The genitive means eieform in Norwegian. It tells you who owns a certain thing (Joe`s book, the boys` school, the king of the country). We have two different kinds of genitive; the s- genitive and the of- genitive.
S- genitive
The big problem with the s- genitive is knowing if the apostrophe ` (apostofen) comes before or after the s. The rule is: - before s in singular - after s in plural, because we usually put an s to the subject when we put it in plural (one boy, all the boys). It is the women`s car (singular) It is the girls` hats (plural) If the subject does not end with an s in plural (children), then the apostrophe comes before the s, just like in singular (it is the children`s toys) If a name ends in an s (Lars), then you treat it like a plural word that ends in an s (it is Lars` car) The s- genitive is also used to show how long something is, how big something is or how much something is. A weeks's holiday A three hours` walk A stone`s throw A dollar's worth. In Norwegian we have composition of words (sammensetning), like dameklokke og gutteklær. In English we often use the s- genitive (a lady`s watch, boys` clothes) The of- genitive
Instead of using the s- genitive, you can sometimes use the of- genitive (the father of the boys) We also use the of- genitive in some fixed expressions (faste uttrykk) A cup of tea A cup of coffee A couple of days A couple of weeks On the 11th of January The spring of 1945 The Kingdom of Norway Tasks
Sources:
Aslaksrud, Lars og Nesset, Kåre: Engelsk språklære. H. Aschehoug &Co. 1986 Sist redigert: 11. 04.18. H.W.
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Grammar sites:
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