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The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns
Like other determiners, possessives change their endings in accordance with the GENDER, NUMBER and CASE of the following noun: Mein Vater (masc., sg., nom.) My father
traf met
Der Bruder meines Vaters (masc., sg., gen.) The brother of my father OR: My father’s brother
traf met met
meine Schwestern. (fem., pl., acc.) my sisters. den Lehrer meiner Schwestern. (fem., pl., gen.) the teacher of my sisters. my sisters’ teacher.
The case endings of possessive determiners are like those of ein and kein:
nominative accusative genitive dative
masculine
feminine
neuter
plural
mein meinen meines meinem
meine meine meiner meiner
mein mein meines meinem
meine meine meiner meinen
Possessives can also be used as PRONOUNS (i.e. as the equivalent to English ‘mine’ rather than ‘my’), but they then have different endings (see 3.9).
3.6 Other determiners Most of the other common determiners in German have the same endings as dieser (see 3.4). Many of them are used only or chiefly in the plural. Alle (all/all the) is used in the plural with endings like dieser: Sie hat alle guten Bonbons aufgegessen.
She’s eaten up all the good sweets.
It can also be used without an ending in the singular and in the nominative/accusative plural, followed by a definite article, e.g. mit all dem Geld, all die braven Kinder. Beide (both) is used in the plural with endings like dieser: Ich möchte beide T-Shirts kaufen.
I’d like to buy both T-shirts.
Ein paar (a few) does not decline. The determiner ein paar should not be confused with ein Paar (a pair), e.g. ein Paar Schuhe: Wir fahren in ein paar Tagen nach Griechenland.
We’re going to Greece in a few days’ time.
