How to use the nominative case in German

These cases exist not to punish learners, but to identify the different parts of German sentences. The nominative case, for example, indicates who or what performs an action in a sentence. In other words, it helps to mark the main subject of a verb.

In this guide, we'll break down why German uses the nominative case, how to identify it, and how to use it correctly, including the small exceptions that trip up most learners. 

---

What is the nominative case in German?

If you've been learning German for a while, you're probably already aware that there are four German cases: Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, and Akkusativ.

The nominative case is the first case of the German grammatical system, and it exists to indicate who or what is the main subject of a verb. This means the nominative case helps you determine which person or thing is performing an action in a sentence.

How to identify the nominative case in German

Determining the case of a German noun or pronoun can be a challenge for many learners, since the concept of multiple grammatical cases doesn't exist in every language.

Asking the right question makes it easier to identify the different cases in a sentence that has more than one noun or pronoun in it. For the nominative case, it's important to know who/what is acting or performing an action.

Let's look at a simple example to get a better feeling for the use of the nominative case in German:

Ich gehe nach Hause. (I go home.)

In the sentence above, Ich is the main subject of the sentence, as well as the person performing the action gehen (to go).

The nominative also covers pronouns, not just nouns. Here's how "I," "you," "he/she/it," "we," "you all," and "they" work in the nominative case:

Der-words vs. ein-words: the two families of articles

Before using the nominative case with confidence, it helps to know that German determiners, the words that come before a noun, like "the," "a," or "my," fall into two families: der-words and ein-words.

Der-words include der, die, das themselves, along with dieser (this), jeder (every), and welcher (which). These words carry the full declension ending on their own.

Ein-words include ein (a), kein (not a/no), and the possessives (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer). Most of the time, ein-words behave just like der-words. But there are two spots, masculine nominative and neuter nominative, where an ein-word takes no ending at all. When that happens, the adjective right after it picks up a stronger ending instead.

Here's what that looks like:

Example	German	English	Note
Der-word	Der gute Mann singt.	The good man sings.	der carries the ending, so gute stays soft.
Ein-word	Ein guter Mann singt.	A good man sings.	ein carries no ending, so guter becomes strong instead.

Both sentences are correct nominative cases; the ending just moves depending on which family of words comes first.

How to use the nominative in German sentences

The nominative case can be used for nouns and pronouns to show who or what is performing an action.

It rarely occurs that nouns stand alone in a sentence; usually, they're accompanied by a definite or indefinite article. German articles change according to the gender, number, and case of a noun. This differs from English, where either "the" or "a" is used and the declension doesn't change.

These are the articles used for the nominative case in German:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neutral	Plural
Definite articles	der	die	das	die
Indefinite articles	ein	eine	ein	—

Here are some examples of how these articles are declined in German sentences:

Der Junge spielt im Park. (The boy is playing in the park.) 

Who is performing the action (spielen)? Der Junge.

Eine Frau isst ein Stück Kuchen. (A woman eats a piece of cake.) 

Who is performing the action (essen)? Eine Frau.

Adjectives follow the same gender, number, and case rules as articles, and the adjective declension they take depends on which family of word came before them.

After a der-word, adjectives take the weak declension:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neutral	Plural
Suffix	-e	-e	-e	-en

Die wütende Frau schreit laut. (The angry woman shouts loudly.)
Das kleine Kind spielt im Park. (The small child plays in the park.)
Die netten Kinder spielen im Park. (The nice children play in the park.) 

Remember, die covers all plural nouns, regardless of gender.

With no article, or after an ein-word in its two exception slots, adjectives take the strong declension:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neutral	Plural
Suffix	-er	-e	-es	-e

Ein netter Mann hilft mir. (A nice man helps me.)
Ein gutes Kind hört zu. (A good child listens.)

Notice that feminine and plural adjectives look the same whether a der-word or an ein-word comes first; the strong/weak distinction only really shows up in the masculine and neuter.

FAQs

---

Getting comfortable with the nominative case in German

The nominative case is the easiest of the four to master, and it's the foundation everything else builds on. Once you can reliably ask "who or what is performing the action?", you already have the tool you need to find the subject in almost any German sentence.

The part that takes practice is remembering which family a determiner belongs to, since that's what decides whether the ending lands on the article or the adjective. That's exactly the kind of detail a teacher catches faster than you'll catch it yourself.

Ready to start using all four German cases with confidence?

Find your level with Lingoda

---