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In English I would write

Lukas’s table

and pronounce this as Lukases table, i.e. with an additional s at the end.

In German, I think it’s written like this:

Lukas’ Tisch

without the additional s after the apostrophe. How do I pronounce this? Shall I pronounce it without the additional s as Lukas Tisch or with the additional s as Lukases Tisch?

2 Answers 2

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The answer is:

[ˈluːkasˈtɪʃ]

This means: You just pronounce it as if there was no apostrophe. (The apostrophe in the phonetics means that the vowel in the following syllable is stressed. It has nothing to do with the apostrophe in the normal written term.)

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    Or alternatively: /am'lu:kasain'tiʃ/ ;)
    – Jan
    Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 16:41
  • This is corrent, but, in my opinion, incomplete. While you would usually do it this way, it is very much accepted and common to actually pronounce it as Lukases when clarity is needed. Note though, that this should not be used in formal contexts. In those, you have to rephrase it to signify ownership with an extra word. Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 20:31
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    @KjeldSchmidt What you describe is 100% uncommon in the south. We rather say "Dem Lukas sein Tisch" to avoid the genitive.
    – tofro
    Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 22:30
  • @tofro Oh, that's interesting! No offense, but, to be honest, I've only ever heard that phrasing in a very mocking tone and never realized people actually used it that way. I guess my way would sound equally silly to those not used to it. (And just to be clear again, whenever it is used, everyone is very much aware of the awkwardness of the phrasing) Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 23:25
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    @tofro to avoid the genitive? This is the genitive - at least where I come from :-) Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 11:51
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Hubert gave the correct answer for at least partially formal speech, where the fact that a genitive is expected is known and no confusion can occur.

However, you should always remember that genitive case is not the most common case in colloquial speech. For example, as I jokingly commented, Bavarians (including Austrians, and likely also Swabians/Alemannians including Swiss) would tend not to use any genitive at all. Instead constructions such as the following would be used:

Dem Lukas sein Tisch.

This is even more notable if we put this all into a conversation:

Wem gehört der Geldbeutel, der hier liegt?

Das ist dem Lukas seiner.

(or, for comparison, see below:) Das ist dem Max seiner.

In the North of Germany, the genitive case still exists somewhat even in colloquial language, to the point where constructions such as the one in the question (‘Das ist Lukas’ Tisch’) can be heard in everyday language. In that example sentence, it is clear from the context that we are expecting a genitive, so all is well, the pronunciation is as it is written and as Hubert noted. (At least assuming that both sides know they are talking about a table and that Tisch is not Lukas’ last name.)

In cases where it is not necessarily fully clear that a genitive is occuring, a number of different, non-standard and non-standardised clarification methods exist, similar to the English pronunciation of Lukas’ being essentially Lukases. For example:

Wem gehört das Portmonee, das hier liegt?

Das ist Lukasens.

(or:) Das ist Maxens.

In formal or written language it should still be Lukas’/Max’, but in spoken language it can get extended as shown for clarity.

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  • Lukas ihm seins geht im Norden eher als dem Lukas seins. Das Anhängen von -en (ähnlich Herz) ist auch in anderen Fällen üblich oder war es zumindest bis etwa vor einer Generation (z.B. regelmäßig bei Wilhelm Busch), das -s markiert dann ganz normal den Genitiv/Possessiv.
    – Crissov
    Commented Nov 15, 2016 at 20:17

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