What is the Nominative Case?
German uses the nominative case when the noun is the subject in a sentence – a person or thing doing the action.
Remember This!
The nominative case always marks the subject of the sentence – who or what is performing the action.
Examples
Here are some examples of nouns in the nominative case (subjects are highlighted):
Endings in the Nominative Case
As described in Unit 10, cases are important in German because they affect the endings of various words linked to nouns. Here is an overview of the most common endings in the nominative case:
| Definite articles | der Mann | die Frau | das Kind | die Gäste |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite articles | ein Mann | eine Frau | ein Kind | — Gäste |
| Negative article | kein Mann | keine Frau | kein Kind | keine Gäste |
| Possessive | mein Mann | meine Frau | mein Kind | meine Gäste |
The Nominative after sein and werden
Note that you also use the nominative after sein "to be" and werden "to become":
Important Note!
However, this is not always obvious, since you sometimes do not use an indefinite article with these verbs in German:
How to Spot the Nominative Case
The subject does not have to be at the beginning of the sentence:
Pro Tip!
An easy way to find out the subject of a sentence is to ask "Who or what is doing the action?"
- Who is going to Berlin tomorrow? → The class
- Who is drinking an espresso? → He is
From Previous
From Previous
Building on Unit 10: The Four Cases – You learned that German has four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) and saw an overview of how they function in sentences.
Coming Next
Prepare for Unit 12: The Accusative Case – Learn about the case used for direct objects, when the noun is receiving the action of the verb.