Proper names (person)

The inflection of persons' names follows the rules below :

Rules		*Examples*

Rule 1	When they are not accompanied by an article, they take the ending -s in genitive singular. The noun that follows does not have an article.	Pauls neue Wohnung

Rule 2*	They do not take an ending in the singular number, when they are accompanied by an article.	Die Erkrankung unseres Paul

Rule 3	Persons' names that end in s, x, z, in genitive singular do not end in –s but take an apostrophe.	Klaus΄ neuer Wagen

Rule 4	Persons' names are rarely used in the plural number. When this happens, the ending -s is usually added to the noun. It is, however, possible to use the endings -e, -en or no ending at all.	die Müllers, die Heinriche, die Ingen, die Jürgen

* In case the genitive precedes the noun, the noun is inflected, e.g. unseres Peters Erfolge

Notes		*Examples*

1	The genitive is often replaced by the preposition von + person name.	die neue Wohnung von Paul

2	In names that consist of many parts, only the last name is inflected.	Heinrich Schillers Werke

3	Terms that denote kinship et al. and are used as an apposition are not inflected (noun Herr is an exception).	Onkel Peters nette Exfrau, Herrn Klaus Meiers Kinder