#genitive case

This post is going to be kinda long, so if you want to get to the meat of the post, read below the cut. There I’ll explain how possessive pronouns are used in Bengali and I’ll give examples, and I will also include additional resources you can reference.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS (aka The Genitive Case)

SINGULAR

1st ps | my: আমার 

2nd ps (informal) | your: তোমার 

2nd ps (intimate) | your: তোর 

2nd ps (formal) | your: আপনার 

3rd ps (informal) | his, her, its: তার / এর  / ওর 

3rd ps (formal) | his, her, its: তাঁর / এঁর / ওঁর

3rd ps (formal) | his, her: উনার 

PLURAL

1st ps | our, us: আমাদের 

2nd ps (informal) | your, you: তোমাদের 

2nd ps (intimate) | your, you: তোদের 

2nd ps (formal) | your, you: আপনাদের 

3rd ps (informal) | their, them: তাদের / এদের / ওদের 

3rd ps (formal) | their, them: তাঁদের / এঁদের / ওঁদের 

3rd ps (formal) | their, them: উনাদের

THE THIRD PERSON If you use তুমি for someone, you’ll use the informal 3rd person options for them. The most commonly spoken third person terms are তার/তাদের and ওর/ওদের. তার/তাদের is the most flexible and what you’ll likely use the most, while ওর/ওদের is colloquial/casual.

If you use আপনি for someone, you will use the formal 3rd person options when you talk about them. তাঁর/তাঁদের is very formal and is used almost exclusively in writing because it’s near impossible to pronounce that chandra bindu; the chandra bindu is there to indicate to the reader that the subject is of great importance. There is also উনার/উনাদের, which is formal as well and is used most when speaking. 

NAMES AND OTHER WORDS To indicate possession in a name or other word in Bangla, add -র or --ের to the end of the word like you would add an -’s in English. If the word ends in a vowel, you need only to add র, but if it ends in a consonant you need to add --ের.

Mira’s | মীরা --> মীরার

Tahsin’s | তাহসিন --> তাহসিনের

dog’s | কুকুর --> কুকুরের

auntie’s | মামি --> মামির

তোনির চোখ খুব নীল। Tony’s eyes are very blue.

এটি ছোট বাচ্চা ফাতিমার। This small child is Fatima’s.

Note: The easiest way to recognize that the genitive case is being used is by looking at the end of a word or name; Bengali possessive nouns always end in -র.

For information on usage, sentence building, and resources read below the cut.

The genitive case shows a relationship between two objects by using the preposition “of”

Singular Forms:

der --> des

des Mannes (of the man)

eines Mannes (of a man)

dieses Mannes (of this man)

die --> der

der Katze

einer Katze

dieser Katze

das --> des

des Kindes

eines Kindes

dieses Kindes

Plural Forms:

der --> der

der Männer (of the men)

meiner Männer (of my men)

dieser Männer (of these men)

die --> der

der Katzen

meiner Katzen

dieser Katzen

das --> der

der Kinder

meiner Kinder

dieser Kinder

Examples:

 die Adresse meines Bruders

my brother’s address

die Adresse meiner Schwester

my sister’s address

 das Buch dieses Kindes

this child’s book

 das Tagebuch dieses Mannes

this man’s diary

das Tagebuch dieser Dame

this lady’s book

die Dinge unserer Eltern

Nom- naming things/subject (что/кто/это)

Prep- where/about (где/о чём)

Gen- possession/of, where from (откуда)

Acc- direct object, direction after verbs of motion (where to [куда])

Dat- indirect object (кому)

Instr- instrument that performs action/with (с кем)

außerhalb - outside

innerhalb - inside 

(an)statt - instead of 

trotz - in spite of 

wegen - because of 

У + genitive

So, the pronouns that will inevitably be used are:

меня 

тебя 

него*

неё* 

нас 

вас 

них*

Some sentences in the present

У меня нет брата. I do not have a brother.

It’s negative, so brother is in the genitive case.

У неё сестра.

In the past tense, you conjugate быть.

When the sentence is negative, then it is не было. always не было.

У него не было машины. He did not have a car (in genitive, not plural).

У вас были кошка. You had a cat.

In future, it will be будет or будут.

 них будут класса. They will have class.

First of all, when do you use this?

According to my textbook, “time when”, so: the event was on [this date] or the party will take place on [that date]. This is when with the day and the month.

With day, month, and year, it still has no prepositions. So, the answer to the questions: when were you born and when did he die.

How to form the numbers? Take the number in nom, drop ending, and add ого, ьего (soft), ей (fem), or их (plural). 

Examples

So, третий (3rd) becomes третьего or третьей  or третьих.

If you are listing the entire year, then only the last number will be ordinal. So, 1996 would be тысяча девятьсот девяносто шестого.