statt
Faroese
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʃtat/
Audio (file) - Homophone: Stadt
- Rhymes: -at
Usage notes
Colloquial German has a general aversion towards the genitive case, as it has died out in the natural German dialects. A dative or dative construction is used instead. This is especially common, and may bleed into standard language, in the following cases:
- If the genitive would be indistinguishable from the nominative in form, which is the case with plural nouns not preceded by an article, determiner, or adjective:
- Statt Röcken trugen wir Hosen. – "Instead of skirts, we wore trousers."
- If a possessive genitive is preceding the referent of the preposition.
- Statt Peters rotem Hemd trug ich mein gelbes. – "Instead of Peter's red shirt, I wore my yellow one." (→ statt Peters roten Hemdes is possible, but unusual)
- Masculine and neuter singular nouns not preceded by an article, determiner, or adjective may take inflectional -(e)s, although this is now quite formal. In current German, the genitive ending has become optional and is dropped by most speakers in most situations.
- Statt München(s) wurde Frankfurt ausgewählt. – "Instead of Munich, Frankfurt was chosen."
- Statt Anton hat sie Peter geheiratet. – "Instead of Anton, she married Peter."
- Personal pronouns may have a genitive form after statt: e.g. statt meiner ("instead of me"), statt seiner ("instead of him"). However, this is dated and very formal. It is preferable to say: an meiner (seiner) Stelle.
Related terms
Norwegian Nynorsk
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