Nominative case in German
The nominative case (Nominativ) is the basic form of the noun in German. It describes the subject of the sentence, which is the person or thing that is acting or being talked about. The nominative case is one of four cases in German, and it’s also called the 1st case.
The nominative case tells you how to conjugate the verb. For example, in the sentence “The boy ate an apple,” “boy” is in the nominative case because “boy” is the subject performing the action.
The nominative case is often referred to as the “who-case” (“der Werfall”) because you can use the question words “who” or “what” to find out what the subject of the sentence is.
There are nominative forms of the pronouns and of the definite and indefinite articles. To use the correct pronouns and articles, it’s important to know not only the case, but also the number and gender of the noun.
Other cases in German include the accusative case, which describes the direct object, the dative case, which describes the indirect object, and the genitive case, which describes possession of a noun.
Examples in Nominative case in German
| English | German |
|---|---|
| I am | Ich bin |
| You are (informal) | Du bist |
| He is | Er ist |
| She is | Sie ist |
| It is | Es ist |
| We are | Wir sind |
| You all are (informal) | Ihr seid |
| They are | Sie sind |
| That is | Das ist |
| Who are you? | Wer bist du? |
| My name is | Mein Name ist |
| The book is interesting | Das Buch ist interessant |
| The dog is big | Der Hund ist groß |
| The sun is shining | Die Sonne scheint |
| The cat is playful | Die Katze ist verspielt |
| The car is fast | Das Auto ist schnell |
| The house is beautiful | Das Haus ist schön |
| The flowers are colorful | Die Blumen sind bunt |
| The children are happy | Die Kinder sind glücklich |
| The coffee is hot | Der Kaffee ist heiß |
