The genitive case

The genitive case is often described as the case of possession, as it is this case that will occur in phrases such as the English 'Ivan's book', 'the book of Ivan'. It is more than that, of course, just as English 'of will appear in many phrasal units that do not involve possession per se. The name of the case is equivalent in English and Ukrainian: Eng. gen- (< Lat. genus, generis 'kind'), Ukr. род- 'birth', 'origin', 'lineage', 'generation', and so on; in other words, this case tells us 'of what kind', 'of what relation', 'to what group' a word belongs.

POSSESSION

In the most general terms, one might describe the use of the genitive as a means of indicating the relation of one object or person to another. Compare the following examples, illustrating true possession as well as purely relational constructions:

книжка професора the professor's book

брат Ольги Оl’ha's brother

початок війни the beginning of the war

кінець дня the end of the day

незалежність України the independence of Ukraine

We note that each of these cases is more or less equivalent to English 'of or "s' constructions, and that the word in the genitive (the possessor, or object/idea about which specific information is being given) occurs second: it does not begin the phrase, unlike English 'apostrophes' ('the professor's book').

GENITIVE IN TIME EXPRESSIONS Just as the prepositionless accusative can be used in time expressions to express duration, the genitive is used to focus on a point in time, for example, 'time when (X took/takes place)'; unlike the accusative, however, genitive constructions will require the presence of a modifier ('this', 'last', 'next'):

цього року this year

минулого тижня last week

наступного року next year

одного разу once, one time

It is also possible for Ukrainian equivalents of such phrases, for example, 'last year', to be expressed using a prepositional construction with the locative case.

THE PARTITIVE USE OF THE GENITIVE The genitive is frequently used with the direct object when that object is a substance (mass, uncountable, or indivis­ible matter) in order to express 'some', 'some of, rather than the item or substance as a whole; the genitive is still used when an element indicating a particular measure is present ('litre of, 'bottle of). Compare:

Дайте хліба! Give (me) (some) bread!

Він хоче пити води. Не wants to drink (some) water.

Він хоче випити води. Не wants to have a drink of (some) water.

склянка чаю a glass of tea

літр горілки a litre of horilka (= Ukrainian vodka)

Compare these examples with the following accusative phrases, which refer to the totality of the substance:

Передайте цукор! Pass the sugar! (the whole sugar bowl)

Вона з'їла хліб. She ate (up) the (loaf, piece of) bread.

In the last example the use of a perfective verb indicates the totality of the action (she ate it all up), as does the accusative of the object. It is certainly possible to have an imperfective verb with a genitive object (Вона з'їла хліба, Він хоче випити води): this is one of those instances in which two speakers of Ukrainian may give two different answers to the question 'which aspect?'.

THE GENITIVE OF NEGATION The genitive can also occur as the case of the direct object, if the action is negated: in T did not X (verb) Y (object)' Y will appear in the genitive unless the object is accompanied by an element identi­fying it as definite; if the object is a person's name (that is, as definite as it can be), then only the accusative will be used:

Він продав стіл. Не sold a table.

Він не продав стола. Не did not sell a table.

Він не продав цей стіл. Не did not sell this table.

Лікар прописував ліки. The physician prescribed medicine.

Лікар не прописував ліків. The physician did not prescribe medicine.

Лікар не прописував ці ліки. The physician did not prescribe this medicine.

Ми не бачили Марійку. We did not see Marijka.

but compare:

Ми ніякої Марійки не бачили. We did not see any Marijka at all (no

one of that name).

The use of the genitive is only possible (and in fact obligatory) in the last example because of the presence of the negative pronoun ніякий 'none', 'not any' (see negative pronouns).

As noted above (see 'the accusative') some words, when direct objects, will tend to occur in the genitive in positive statements, where neither negation nor partitivity are expressed. This is the exception rather than the rule, however.