Genitive
The genitive’s forms are the easiest of the five to learn, because there’s nothing new to learn: they’re identical to the dative’s, cell for cell. What genitive use adds on top is a linking article.
Usage
The genitive marks possession — “of” something: libri i studentit (“the student’s book”, literally “the book of the student”). Beyond plain ownership, it also covers: the object of an action-noun (Çlirimi i Shqipërisë, “the liberation of Albania”); the agent of an action-noun (ardhja e pranverës, “the arrival of spring”); names of cities, islands, rivers and lakes attached to a common noun (qyteti i Elbasanit, “the city of Elbasan”); and part-of-a-whole (shumica e vajzave, “most of the girls”).
Measure phrases are the one place “of” in English doesn’t become a genitive in Albanian. A countable measure just uses the plain plural, no genitive at all: një kilogram domate (“a kilogram of tomatoes”). A mass noun uses the singular the same way: gjysmë kilogram sallam (“half a kilogram of salami”). And një litër (“a liter”) specifically takes the ablative instead of either — see “Ablative”.
Formation
Identical to the dative in every cell — singular and plural, definite and indefinite:
Singular, indefinite — masculine: same shape as the noun’s own nominative definite singular (shoku). Feminine:
Ending | Rule | Example |
-ë (or -ër/-ërr/-ël) | replace -ë with -e (drop -ë- for -ër/-ërr/-ël first) | ekspozitë → ekspozite, motër → motre |
stressed -i | add -e | shtëpi → shtëpie |
elsewhere | add -je | studente → studenteje, kala → kalaje |
Singular, definite — masculine: nominative definite singular + -t (shoku → shokut). Feminine:
Ending | Rule | Example |
unstressed final vowel | nominative indefinite + -s | nënë → nënës |
stressed final vowel | nominative indefinite + -së | shtëpi → shtëpisë |
-ër/-ërr/-ël | replace ending with -ës | motër → motrës |
Plural, indefinite and definite (no difference between the two here): plural stem + -ve, both genders (studentëve, librave, vajzave).
See “Dative” for the same tables with more context, or “Cases” for how the genitive relates to the other four.
On top of these endings, genitive use adds the linking article (i, e, të, së) placed in front, agreeing with whatever is possessed rather than with the noun that’s declined: libri i studentit (masculine possession) vs. shtëpia e studentit (“the student’s house”, feminine possession) — same genitive noun form, studentit, different article because what’s owned is a different gender. See “The linking article” for how that agreement works.
See “Nouns: the basics” for the overview.