| This page is about the genitive. And what's the genitive?
Answer: a grammatical form that indicates the possession of
something. In English this is normally indicated by 's:
But there is a second way to express genitive in English. For
instance, the second phrase could also be said like this: The mother of James.
In Norwegian an "-s" is added, as in
English, but without the apostrophe. However, if the name is ending
with an -s or an sound similar to s, only a single
apostrophe is added. What now? Yes, the examples:
Geirs mor = Geir's mother
Annes hus = Anne's house
Anders' biler = Anders's cars
Note that this s-form is widely used in Norwegian, also
in expressions like "The capital of Norway" (Norges
hovedstad).
Also note that possessed noun always appears in its indefinite
form (i.e. NOT "Annes huset", but "Annes hus").
Instead of the -s, you can add a whole word: "sin".
This is always optional, but can be especially useful when you are
talking and the name is already ending with "-s". If the
possessed object is of neuter gender, you have to conjugate the
word: "sitt".
In the same way, if the possessed object is plural, you use the
form "sine"
(remember the adjective plural -e ending). So, the
word sin is conjugated as if it were an adjective, just with a double t
in its neuter form:
Geir sin mor =
Geir's mother
Anne sitt hus = Anne's house
Anders sine biler = Anders' cars
There is also a third way to express possession, which is
widely used as well. It's a bit more complex, and looks like this:
Definite form of the
possessed object + "til"
+ The possessor
Mora til Geir =
Geir's mother
Huset til Anne =
Anne's house
Bilene til Anders =
Anders' cars
An important thing to note is that this third way to express genitive
can only be used when the possessor is a person,
never in expressions like "The kingdom of Norway"
and "The king of Norway". (Those two look like this: "Kongeriket Norge" and "Norges konge").
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