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Person names |
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Singular:
Person names take an s in the genitive plural, when they are used without an article.
Goethes Dramen
das Reich Kleopatras
Joachims Spielzeug
Elisabeths Thronbesteigung
With article, person names usually do not take an ending in modern German:
die Dramen des jungen Goethe
das Reich der schönen Kleopatra
das Spielzeug des kleinen Joachim
das Leben der heiligen Elisabeth
Masculine names occasionally take the ending -s when used with an article (rarely, obsolete or very formal)
| „Die Leiden des jungen Werthers“ |
(title of a novel by Goethe) |
| das Spielzeug des kleinen Joachims |
(rarely, not accepted as correct by everybody) |
| des [kleinen] Joachims Kreisel |
(literary or very formal, cf. position of the genitive attribute) |
| Weiblich endungslos: |
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| der [heiligen] Elisabeth Leben |
(literary of very formal, cf. position of the genitive attribute) |
With person names ending in -s, -x or -z, the genitive singular s is substituted by an apostrophe:
Kopernikus’ Werke
Agnes’ Geburtstag
Franz’ Eltern
Always without an apostrophe:
die Werke des Kopernikus
der Geburtstag der kleinen Agnes
die Eltern des kleinen Franz
Rarely, the ending -ens is used. It is considered rather archaic:
Marxens Werke
Franzens Eltern
For the inflection of compound person names (Johann Sebastian Bach, Onkel Anton, Doktor Müller, Elisabeth die Zweite) see Close apposition.
Plural:
It is possible to form the plural of many person names. These plural forms occur rarely, though. The following four plural endings exist:
Usually, s is used in spontaneous plural formation. The ending en is in most cases dated.
| s/e |
| |
Singular |
Plural |
| Stem |
Ending |
Stem |
Ending |
| Nominative |
Stem |
- |
Stem |
e |
| Accusative |
- |
e |
| Dative |
- |
en |
| Genitive |
s |
e |
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s/-
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| |
Singular |
Plural |
| Stem |
Ending |
Stem |
Ending |
| Nominative |
Stem |
- |
Stem |
- |
| Accusative |
- |
- |
| Dative |
- |
n |
| Genitive |
s |
- |
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s/s
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| |
Singular |
Plural |
| Stem |
Ending |
Stem |
Ending |
| Nominative |
Stem |
- |
Stem |
s |
| Accusative |
- |
s |
| Dative |
- |
s |
| Genitive |
s |
s |
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s/en
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| |
Singular |
Plural |
| Stem |
Ending |
Stem |
Ending |
| Nominative |
Stem |
- |
Stem |
en |
| Accusative |
- |
en |
| Dative |
- |
en |
| Genitive |
s |
en |
All person names
See also Article with proper names.
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