The genitive case. Congratulations

Lesson 5: Extension and revision of the first chapter of the course. Activity 1

From this activity you will know how to:

• congratulate your interlocutor on a holiday
• express your wishes on account of the holiday
• reply on the congratulation
• write a congratulation

Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue

Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words

1. The verb gratulieren (congratulate) is used with the preposition zu which governs the dative case in German:

   Ich gratuliere Ihnen zum Geburtstag!
   I congratulate you on your birthday!

2. In a number of cases some prepositions can be contracted with the articles, namely:

    

   zu + dem = zum
   zu + der = zur
   in + dem = im
   in + das = ins

   an + dem = am
   an + das = ans
   auf + das = aufs
   von + dem = vom

3. The verbs are not often used with congratulations and wishes in German:

   Ein gesundes Neues Jahr! Healthy New Year!
   Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!
   Ein frohes Osterfest! Happy Easter!

Remember the main ways of word-formation (1 and 2)

gesund + heit = die Gesundheit
das Glück + lich = glücklich
neu + das Jahr = das Neujahr New Year
Weihnacht + s + das Fest (holiday) = das Weihnachtsfest Christmas
Oster(n) + das Fest (holiday) = das Osterfest Easter
der Geburtstag + s + das Kind = das Geburtstagskind birthday boy/girl

Practise in reading the words

Herzliche Glückwünsche!

You know that we often visit someone on some special occasion: birthday, anniversary etc. For this case, let’s add some lines in our previous dialogue (see lesson 4, activity 2):

Among the toastes you may hear:

Often, we want to congratulate someone outside the home:

The last reply is used on public holidays.

On national holidays and on New Year’s Eve we usually say:

Ich wünsche Ihnen frohe Weihnachten (ein frohes Weihnachtsfest)!
Ein gesundes (glückliches) Neues Jahr! Viel Glück im Neuen Jahr!
Frohe Ostern (ein frohes Osterfest)!

These expressions are used in writing as well.

Weihnachten Christmas
Ostern Easter

Grammar points

1. You already know about cases in German (see lesson 3, activity 4). Now remember the forms of the genitive case:

   Singular
   N	Masc.	der Vater	Neut.	das Kind	Fem.	die Frau
   G		des Vaters		des Kindes		der Frau
   Plural
   N	Mac.	die Väter	Neut.	die Kinder	Fem.	die Frauen
   G		der Väter		der Kinder		der Frauen

   Thus, singular masculine and neuter nouns get the article des and the ending -(e)s, and feminine nouns change the article die into der. All the nouns in plural get the article der.

   Remember that some masculine nouns have the ending -(е)n: des Kollegen, des Studenten, des Herrn usw.

   Possessive pronouns in the genitive case have the same endings as the article:

   des, eines, meines, Ihres, unseres Vaters (Kindes usw.)
   der, einer, meiner, Ihrer, unserer Mutter (Tochter usw.)

2. The genitive case is the case that shows possession or ownership and is expressed in English by the possessive “of” or an apostrophe (’s). It answers the question wessen? “whose?”. The noun in the genitive case generally comes after the noun that it is modifying:

    

   Wessen Formular ist das?

   — Das ist das Formular des Freundes.

    

   Whose form is this?

   — This is the form of a friend.

3. There are some attributive adjectives in this dialogue which have different endings. We will talk about it later. As for now, try to remember them in the specified expressions: Alles Gute! Herzliche Glückwünsche! usw.

Article declension (of nouns)

1. A joyous occasion is coming. What will you say?

2. Your friend has mastered a new profession. Say that (s)he has chosen it right.

3. You are reminded that your father has a birthday tomorrow. Say that you must congratulate him. Remind your interlocutor to do the same.

4. A holiday or a joyous occasion is coming. Write a congratulation.

5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the dialogue.

1. Ich meinem Bruder zum Geburtstag. 2. Herzliche zu Ihrem Jubiläum! 3. Wir wünschen Ihnen gute ! 4. Sind Sie heute abend ? 5. Ich wünsche ihm alles ! 6. Frohe Feiertage! -

6. Reconstruct the dialogue by filling in the gaps with the appropriate words.

7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Herzliche Glückwünsche!” by memory.

Check yourself!

What expressions will you use if you want to:

congratulate your interlocutor on a holiday
express your wishes on account of the holiday
reply on the congratulation
write a congratulation