Re: German ,,Nichtsdestotrotz"


Joachim Pense schrieb:


Trotz traditionally took the dative, and the dative is still grammatical.
This is reflected by the word "trotzdem", and the expression "jemandem
Trotz bieten".

But there has been a tendency for two or three centuries now to switch to
the genitive, probably led by "wegen" ('because of') which takes the
genitive. As the genitive has more prestige, many people think that "trotz"
with Dative is the product of ignorance (but in fact the opposite is true).

There is nothing wrong or right in language except for convention. In
addition, I believe dative is easier to pronounce and sounds more
natural than pronouncing all the s sounds in genitive. Pronunciation is
always the decisive factor. There is a book of two volumes now in
German about this battle. The genitive will surely lose because it
sounds bookish and artificial.

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