zero-to-many relationship efcore

Question

I have created two classes language and country using the format:

public class Country{
public string Id{get; set;}
public string CountryName {get; set;}
public ICollection<Language> Languages {get; set;}
}
public class Language{
public string Id{get; set;}
public string LanguageName{get; set;}
}

I have created the context and the database, but I noticed that the language table shows its columns as:

Id

LanguageName

CountryId

which indicates a one-to-many relationship, but this isn't what I want(countryId shouldn't be in the Language table) Is it possible to have a "zero-to-many" relationship in this format?

Answer 1

I order EF could recognize many-to-many relations, add public virtual ICollection Countries {get; set;} property to Language class and it should be enough

public class Country
{
public string Id{get; set;}
public string CountryName {get; set;}
public virtual ICollection<Language> Languages {get; set;}
public virtual ICollection<CountryLanguage> CountryLanguages {get; set;}
}

public class Language
{
public string Id{get; set;}
public string LanguageName{get; set;}
public virtual ICollection<Country> Countries {get; set;}
public virtual ICollection<CountryLanguage> CountryLanguages {get; set;}
}

I usually recommend to add the third table. But if you are using Net5+ it is optional.

public class CountryLanguage
{
public string CountryId{get; set;}
public string LanguageId{get; set;}
public virtual Country Country {get; set;}
public virtual Language Language {get; set;}
}

Also, if you are using Net5+ you don't need to add any relations, Ef will do it for you. But if you are using older version let us know.