In the last few posts we have left German aside a bit, so let’s try to make up for that. Although the book Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod is already very famous among German speakers and lovers, it is worth knowing what it is about.

First of all, the title of the book means ‘The dative represents the death of the genitive’. And why is that? As you might know, the German language has cases, namely nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. In recent years, the genitive has started to disappear in favour of the dative. For example, instead of saying the correct ‘die Jacke des Mädchens’ (the jacket of the girl), people now tend to go for the easier ‘dem Mädchen seine Jacke’ (literally, to the girl her jacket) and ‘die Jacke vom Mädchen’, which employs the preposition von together with the article in the dative case. If you think that this tendency is only present in oral communications, you should really read this book, which provides you with insightful examples of how German has changed and is still changing, of course starting from the general shift from the genitive to the dative.

However, we’re all very busy, and you might not want to buy the book. But you might still want to have a look at the column Zwiebelfish, which Bastian Sick, the book’s author, writes for the magazine Speigel. It is in German, but I am sure that even beginners will soon be charmed by Sick’s style and by the interesting bits and pieces he finds in everyday life and then shares with us in his humorous manner.

Finally, as a translator, it is important to keep up with a language, which is something alive and ever-changing. These light-hearted, yet clever articles can be really useful both for one’s cultural knowledge and future jobs! So, keep reading (and using the genitive!!!).

P.S. Above another example of missing genitive (Closed because of high water); there should be an S at the end of Hochwasser, as the preposition wegen requires the genitive.