Editing Genitive case (section)

===To express negation===
The genitive case is also used in sentences expressing negation, even when no possessive relationship is involved. The ending of the subject noun changes just as it does in possessive sentences. The genitive, in this sense, can only be used to negate nominative, accusative and genitive sentences, and not other cases.

:Nominative: (pol.) "(Czy) Maria jest w domu?" / (rus.) "Мария дома?" / (Чи) Марія (є) вдома? ("Is Maria at home?").
:Genitive: (pol.) "Mari'''i''' nie ma w domu" ("Maria is not at home", literally: "[virtual subject] has no Maria at home")
:Genitive: (rus.) "Мари'''и''' нет дома" ("Maria is not at home", literally: "Of Maria there is none at home.").
:Genitive: (ukr.) "Марі'''ї''' нема(є) вдома" ("Maria is not at home", literally: "[virtual subject] has no Maria at home.")

:Accusative: (pol.) "Mogę rozczytać twoje pismo" / (rus.) Могу (про)читать твой почерк / (ukr.) Можу (про)читати твій почерк ("I can read your handwriting")
:Genitive: (pol.) "Nie mogę rozczytać twoj'''ego''' pism'''a'''" / (rus.) "Не могу (про)читать тво'''его''' почерк'''а'''" / (ukr.) "Не можу (про)читати тво'''го''' почерк'''у'''" ("I can't read your handwriting")

Use of genitive for negation is obligatory in [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and [[Old Church Slavonic]]. Some East Slavic languages ( e.g. [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]) employ either the accusative or genitive for negation, although the genitive is more commonly used. In [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]] and [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]], negating with the genitive case is perceived as rather archaic and the accusative is preferred, but genitive negation in these languages is still not uncommon, especially in music and literature.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/11298/1/salt_17_kagan.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719195031/http://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/11298/1/salt_17_kagan.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-19 |url-status=live |title=Property-Denoting NPs and Non-Canonical Genitive Case |author=Olga Kagan  |publisher=CLC Publications, Cornell University |journal=Proceedings of the 17th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference |year=2007 |access-date=January 27, 2013}}</ref>