WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
WHAT IT'S USED FOR
Possession
The genitive case is most often used to show ownership or possession of something. The person, place, or thing that owns something is given in the genitive case, while the case of the thing being owned is not affected by the possessive. For example, look at this sentence:
The merchant's dog bit me. canis mercatoris me momordit.
The dog belongs to the merchant, so the merchant is the one in the genitive case. The dog is performing the action in this sentence - it's the subject - so it's in the nominative; the fact that it is owned by someone in this sentence does not affect its case in any way. Now look at this sentence:
I bit the merchant's dog. ego canem mercatoris momordi.
Notice that the dog is now the direct object of the sentence instead of the subject. Its case has now changed to the accusative to reflect that. Does that affect the case of the merchant at all? Nope. Still genitive, because the merchant still owns the dog. Their cases don't affect one another.
Another note about the genitive of possession is that its number reflects the owner(s), not the thing(s) being owned. Here are some examples to illustrate what that means:
the woman's dress stola feminae
the woman's dresses stolae feminae
the women's dress stola feminarum
the women's dresses stolae feminarum
Notice that the number of dresses doesn't change the genitive ending. The number of women who own the dresses is what changes the genitive.
Partitive Genitive
The genitive case is also used to describe a number or amount of something that is part of a larger whole. That's a complicated sentence, but in simpler terms, it's something like "most of the soldiers" or "all of the things" or "none of the slave-girls" - basically, any situation where you're talking about a number of something and you use "of" to describe it in English, that's where you use a genitive case for that thing in Latin.
most of the soldiers plerus militum
all of the things omnis rerum
none of the slave-girls nulla feminarum
The genitive case is most often used to show ownership or possession of something. The person, place, or thing that owns something is given in the genitive case, while the case of the thing being owned is not affected by the possessive. For example, look at this sentence:
The merchant's dog bit me. canis mercatoris me momordit.
The dog belongs to the merchant, so the merchant is the one in the genitive case. The dog is performing the action in this sentence - it's the subject - so it's in the nominative; the fact that it is owned by someone in this sentence does not affect its case in any way. Now look at this sentence:
I bit the merchant's dog. ego canem mercatoris momordi.
Notice that the dog is now the direct object of the sentence instead of the subject. Its case has now changed to the accusative to reflect that. Does that affect the case of the merchant at all? Nope. Still genitive, because the merchant still owns the dog. Their cases don't affect one another.
Another note about the genitive of possession is that its number reflects the owner(s), not the thing(s) being owned. Here are some examples to illustrate what that means:
the woman's dress stola feminae
the woman's dresses stolae feminae
the women's dress stola feminarum
the women's dresses stolae feminarum
Notice that the number of dresses doesn't change the genitive ending. The number of women who own the dresses is what changes the genitive.
Partitive Genitive
The genitive case is also used to describe a number or amount of something that is part of a larger whole. That's a complicated sentence, but in simpler terms, it's something like "most of the soldiers" or "all of the things" or "none of the slave-girls" - basically, any situation where you're talking about a number of something and you use "of" to describe it in English, that's where you use a genitive case for that thing in Latin.
most of the soldiers plerus militum
all of the things omnis rerum
none of the slave-girls nulla feminarum
