Possessive case

Possessives

1. The saxon genitive

The Saxon genitive is a grammatical structure used to express possession or relationship between people or animals.

IMG UNIT 37-01
Martha's sister is pregnant.
IMG UNIT 37-02
Your dog's toy is broken.

2. How is Saxon genitive formed?

In general, to make the Saxon genitive we add (‘s) to the possessor (who something belongs to), followed by the possession. The basic structure is this one:

Poseedor  +  's  +  posesión
IMG UNIT 37-03
Rose's leather jacket is cool.
IMG UNIT 37-04
Lee's bonsai trees are beautiful.

3. Rules of Saxon genitive

Rules Examples
Subject in singular or proper name +'S Cindy's dress is beautiful!
Subject in plural ending in –S +' My friends' dog is very friendly.
Subject in plural not ending in –S +'S The children's bikes are broken.

Proper nouns ending in -S

+'S / +' Charles'('s) new flat is in the city centre.
When there are two or more possessors connected by the conjunction AND If they share the same possession, add 'S to the last possessor Mike and Judy's family is going to move to Brazil.
If they don't share the same possession, add 'S to each possessor Mike's and Judy's toys are in the box.

4. ¿Cómo se utiliza el saxon genitive?

  • When the possessor is a person or an animal they tend to use 's.
    IMG UNIT 37-06
    My sister's boyfriend is Italian.
    IMG UNIT 37-07
    The hamster's house needs cleaning.
    When the word to designate the possessor is a proper noun, it can't be preceded by the article the.
  • When the possessor is a thing we usually use the preposition of.
    IMG UNIT 37-08
    Do you know the name of the film?
    IMG UNIT 37-09
    The kitchen of this house is small.
    However, in some cases you can use 's when referring to names of countries, cities, etc. or with certain time expressions (last year, yesterday, Monday...).
    IMG UNIT 37-10
    China's population is growing fast.
    IMG UNIT 37-11
    Last year's holiday was great.

5. Omission of possession

When we refer to someone's home, shops, well-known public buildings, etc., we omit possession (place) and introduce only the saxon genitive:

IMG UNIT 37-12
I'm going to spend the afternoon at Mary's.
IMG UNIT 37-13
Remember to go to the baker's.

When we don't want to repeat the name of the possessed element, possession is also omitted:

IMG UNIT 37-14
- Is this book yours?
IMG UNIT 37-15
- No, it isn't. It's Molly's.

Remember!

The Saxon genitive ('s or ') is used to indicate possession.
  Structure Examples
PEOPLE 'S
'
Charles' birthday is on the 6th of May.
ANIMALS 'S
'
The dog's toy.
THINGS OF The window of the house is broken.