jueves, 4 de octubre de 2012
POSSESION. SAXON GENITIVE WITH ´S
Possession, in addition to being expressed with the verb 'have' (or 'have got') and possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their), is expressed by a special construction which in English is called Genitive Saxon, and which in Spanish it is equivalent to the structure with the preposition 'de' (of).
Consider these examples:
El libro del niño = the child's book
El libro de Juan = Juan's book
As seen, in English, first we put the possessor (person) followed by the apostrophe and 's' and after this the thing possessed.
the student's new pencil = el lápiz nuevo del alumno
Mary's brother = el hermano de María
If the possessor is a regular plural (ending in-s), add only the apostrophe. If the plural is irregular (not ending in -s) then 's remains :
the students' uniforms = los uniformes de los alumnos
the children's toys = los juguetes de los niños
Finally, if the possessor's name ends in -s, 's remains. This ending is then pronounced /zIz/:
James's house = la casa de Jaime
Charles's wife = la mujer de Carlos
NOTICE! If the possessor is not a person, then Saxon Genitive is not used, but an of-construction :
Las patas de la mesa = the legs of the table
Las manecillas del reloj = the handles of the clock
Las hojas del libro = the pages of the book
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO DO ON-LINE EXERCISES:
EXERCISE ONE
EXERCISE TWO
EXERCISE THREE
EXERCISE FOUR
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