FormNomen + von + Dativ (meinem Vater, meiner Nachbarin)
Meaning and usage
von plus the dative is the everyday spoken way to say whose something is. You put the thing first, then von, then the owner in the dative: das Auto von meinem Vater, der Hund von meiner Nachbarin. The dative endings are -em for masculine and neuter and -er for feminine, so von meinem Bruder, von meinem Kind, von meiner Schwester. Use it for people and things that belong to someone, especially in speech, where the genitive often sounds formal.
The mistake learners make is keeping the genitive form after von, as in von meines Vaters. After von the owner must be in the dative: von meinem Vater. Also keep this pattern for possession only. With places and authors, von means something different, as in von Berlin or von Goethe.
Examples 5
Das ist der Hund von meiner Nachbarin.
That's my neighbor's dog.
Hier ist die Fahrkarte von meiner Freundin.
Here's my friend's ticket.
Ich mag die Farbe von deinem Rock.
I like the color of your skirt.
Das ist der Hund von meinem Nachbarn.
That's my neighbor's dog.
Ihr Sohn hat die Augen von ihr.
Her son has her eyes.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Das ist das Fahrrad .
Show answer
Correct answer: von meinem Bruder
After von the owner stands in the dative, and Bruder is masculine, so the dative form is meinem Bruder.
- von meinen Bruder meinen Bruder is the accusative form, which von does not take.
- von meines Bruders meines Bruders is the genitive, which does not follow von.
- von mein Bruder mein Bruder is the nominative form, so it cannot follow von.
In this topic: The four cases
- den Mann, einen Mann masculine articles change in the accusative
- dem Kind ein Buch geben giving: the receiver is dative, the thing is accusative
- den Kindern, mit den Freunden dative plural: den plus noun with -n
- Wen? Wem? asking who with wen or wem
- Den Film kenne ich. Put an object first to highlight it
- Annas Buch, Toms Auto showing who something belongs to with a name
- das Auto von meinem Vater whose something is, with von + dative
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.