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burtonwar... burtonwar...
 
January 07, 2009 03:59 PM

Do other languages use possessives the same way English does?

Obviously in English this is "BurtonWarpup's question," but in Spanish it would be translated as "question of BurtonWarpup." I know French is that way too. But what about other languages? Are there others that use the "apostrophe s" or something similar?
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littlepea littlepea
 
 January 07, 2009 07:02 PM
German also uses apostrophe for possession (genitive case) in the case of proper nouns mostly

A few examples taken from wikipedia:
- Andreas' Freundin Jana = Andrea's friend Jana
- Hans' Schwester = Hans' sister
if the name doesn't end with 's', you get:
- Andreas Freundin Jana = Andrea's friend Jana
- Annas Hund = Ann's dog, which can also be written "der Hund Annas"
An example with a common name:
- des Mädchens Hund = the girl's dog

These are only a few example and it may be used in some other cases.
Source(s):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostroph
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitiv

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tracebooks tracebooks
 
January 07, 2009 04:09 PM
I can't think of any other European languages that use this construction, but I don't know Basque. In Celtic languages, like Irish or Scottish, you use a preposition, but not "of". It's "at": "The milk at the cat" for "The cat's milk".

I don't know enough about Asian, African, Native American, or Indian Penninsula languages to answer further.

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mjeezy mjeezy
 
January 07, 2009 04:47 PM
English is very unique. I know in Spanish, that instead of "The Boy's Coat", you say "The Coat of the Boy".

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cmealerjr cmealerjr
 
January 07, 2009 06:48 PM
Japanese has the "no" particle which denotes possession

you would say:

Boy "no" coat

putting the owner before the object.
Source(s):
nihongoresources.com


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pageman pageman
 
January 07, 2009 09:49 PM
Max' Vater - in German
Source(s):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophitis


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