Kapitel 11

The Nominative Case

Master the case for subjects in German sentences

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.

Nominative = Subject = "Who/What is doing the action?"

Examples

Here are some examples of nouns in the nominative case (subjects are highlighted):

Der Mann hört Musik. The man is listening to music.
Die Frau liest das Buch. The woman reads the book.
Das Kind kauft einen Apfel. The child buys an apple.
Die Gäste wollen es nicht. The guests don't want it.

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:

Modifier Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
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":

Er ist ein interessanter Mann. He is an interesting man.
Es wird ein schöner Tag. It's going to be a nice day.

Important Note!

However, this is not always obvious, since you sometimes do not use an indefinite article with these verbs in German:

Er ist Ingenieur. He is an engineer. (no article needed!)
Sie wird Lehrerin. She is going to be(come) a teacher. (no article needed!)

How to Spot the Nominative Case

The subject does not have to be at the beginning of the sentence:

Morgen fährt die Klasse nach Berlin. Tomorrow the class is going to Berlin.
Nach dem Essen trinkt er einen Expresso. After the meal he drinks an espresso.

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

Exercise 11.1

Score: 0/8
Fill in the correct form of the indefinite (ein, eine, ein) and definite articles (der, die, das, plural die) in the nominative. The genders of the nouns are given in parentheses.

Exercise 11.2

Score: 0/5
Click on the subject in each sentence. The subject is the person or thing doing the action (nominative case). Ask yourself: "Who or what is doing the action?"
1 Morgen fahren wir nach Italien.
2 Meine Mutter heißt Karin.
3 Hast du heute Zeit?
4 Im Sommer wohnen wir in Berlin.
5 Trinkt er gerne Bier?

Exercise 11.3

Score: 0/7
Translate the following sentences into German. Remember to use the correct articles in the nominative case!
1
This is a house.
2
The house is very old.
3
The man is called Mario.
4
He is an engineer.
5
The newspaper is very interesting.
6
Aldi is a supermarket in Germany.
7
Who are the children?

Checklist

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.

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