📖 The Nominative Case in German – Der Nominativ
The nominative case is the starting point of all German grammar. It is the case of the subject — the person or thing that performs the action of the verb. Every sentence has a subject, so you use the nominative in every single sentence you speak.
🔍 How to Find the Nominative
Ask: Wer? (Who?) or Was? (What?) — the answer is the subject in the nominative.
Der Hund schläft. → Wer schläft? → der Hund (nominative)The dog is sleeping. → Who is sleeping? → the dog
📋 Nominative Articles
| Gender | Definite (the) | Indefinite (a/an) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine (m) | der | ein | Der Mann arbeitet. |
| Feminine (f) | die | eine | Eine Frau lacht. |
| Neuter (n) | das | ein | Das Kind schläft. |
| Plural | die | — | Die Hunde bellen. |
Sein + Nominative
After the verb sein (to be), the noun stays in the nominative: Das ist ein Hund. This is called the predicate nominative and is different from most other European languages.
👤 Nominative Pronouns
| German | English |
|---|---|
| ich | I |
| du | you (informal) |
| er / sie / es | he / she / it |
| wir | we |
| ihr | you (plural informal) |
| sie / Sie | they / you (formal) |
Der Student lernt fleißig.The student studies hard. (subject = nominative)
Das ist mein Bruder.This is my brother. (after sein = nominative)
✏️ Übungen
1. Which case is the subject always in? Nominative
2. "A woman is singing." — What is the subject? Eine Frau (nominative)
3. After sein, which case is used? Nominative
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