What is the Nominative Case?
- The nominative case is the base form of the noun and describes the subject, the person or thing that performs the action!
- It is the word that tells you how to conjugate the verb.
- The question for the nominative is „Wer?“ or „Was?“
- The nominative case is also used after the verbs sein, werden und bleiben. (Warning: In this case it is not the subject!
Nominative Case – Examples
- „Das Pferd ist weiß.“
- „Der Mann schenkt der Frau die Blumen. „
- „Den Ball hat der Junge zum Geburtstag bekommen.“
Declension in Nominative Case
The article must match the case:
| Masculine | der Mann | Masculine | ein Mann |
| Feminine | die Frau | Feminine | eine Frau |
| Neuter | das Kind | Neuter | ein Kind |
| Plural | die Eltern | Plural | - Eltern |
Use of the Nominative Case
Use: the Subject
- „Das Pferd ist weiß.“
- „Der Mann schenkt der Frau die Blumen.“
- „Den Ball hat der Junge zum Geburtstag bekommen.“
The subject is always in the nominative case! No Exceptions!!
(Info: The subject is the person/thing that is acting. It tells you how to conjugate the verb.)
Use: the Subject Complement
The verbs sein, werden und bleiben use a subject complement. That means we use the nominative even though it´s not the subject.
- „Du bist ein guter Schüler.“
- „Er ist der Beste!“
- „Du willst einmal ein Lehrer werden.“
The subject complement is not the subject, but it describes a characteristic of the subject and therefore is in the nominative case.
Warning about the Subject Complement:
It is only the subject complement when „werden“ or „sein“ is the main verb of the sentence.
- „Er ist der Beste.“
⇒ Sein („ist“) is the main verb.
- „Er ist zu dem Mann gegangen.“
⇒ Sein („ist“) is only a helping verb (used to help create the perfect tense) ⇒ no nominative case after „sein“
Tip – Where does subject go?
The subject is often at the beginning of the sentence, but it can also be in the middle.
- „Der Junge hat den Ball zum Geburtstag bekommen“
- „Den Ball hat der Junge zum Geburtstag bekommen“
If there is somethings else that´s more important, then the person/thing that is performing the action (the subject) goes behind the conjugated verb. (More information: Sentence Structure)
Further Information:
- All information about the accusative case: The Accusative Case
- All information about the dative case: The Dative Case
- All information about the genitive case:The Genitive Case
- Troubles determining the correct case? Check out my guide: Step-by-Step Guide to the Correct German Case
- Some prepositions use dative and accusative case. More about that in: Two-Way-Prepositions
- You can learn which verbs require a special case in the unit: Verbs with Complements
- All articles have to match the case. Go to Chapter 2: German Articles and learn which types of articles exist.
- Pronouns are placeholders for nouns. That means the get declined as well. Learn more here: Pronouns
- Some masculine nouns need an extra „n“ at the end: N-Declension
- Adjectives change their endings to match the case as well: Adjective Declension
The Dative Case
Cases │ Dative case │ Usage, Declension, examples and an easy explanation about dative case. │ When do we use dative case? │ Irregularities? │ EasyDeutsch
The Genitive Case
Cases │ Genitive case │ Usage, Declension, examples and an easy explanation about genitive case. │ When do we use genitive case? │ Irregularities?
Accusative Case
Cases │ Accusative Case │ Usage, Declension, examples and an easy explanation about accusative case. │ When do we use accusative case? │ Irregularities?
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