The Nominative Case in German: Building Your Foundation

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The nominative case in German is where communication begins. Once you have a good list of German words memorized, this essential grammatical case can be used to form your very first German sentences. We’ll show in detail how the Nominativ (nominative) case works, provide practical examples of its use, and explain how it connects with the other grammatical cases to give you a solid foundation for mastering German grammar.

What is the nominative case?

The Nominativ (nominative) case is used in both English and German (and other languages) to show whether a noun or pronoun is the subject of a sentence. The subject of a sentence is simply the “who” or “what” that is directly performing the action of the sentence. For example, in the sentence Der Hund läuft schnell (The dog runs fast), Der Hund (The dog) is in the nominative case because it is the subject performing the action of running.

The nominative is one of the four German cases, also including the accusative case, the dative case, and the genitive case. The German language shows the use of the Nominativ through article choice, pronoun selection, and adjusting adjective endings. Starting in the nominative case is an excellent first step toward navigating the more complex cases as it lays the groundwork for identifying who or what is acting in a sentence.

Tips for German gendered nouns

One of the first hurdles English-speaking learners encounter when learning how to speak German is the concept of gendered nouns. The gender of a noun is important to the Nominativ (nominative) case because it affects aspects of German grammar like articles and adjective endings. 

Every noun you can imagine has a gender assigned to it—even inanimate objects! There are three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. In German, there are also special rules for plural nouns, so you’ll often see “plural” listed next to these three grammatical genders.

Some nouns are assigned a grammatical gender which is intuitive, like men being masculine, women being feminine, and a book being considered neuter. But you can’t always identify the grammatical gender of a noun so easily. For example, der Tisch (the table) is assigned a masculine grammatical gender despite being an object.

Here are some tips for figuring out the grammatical gender of a noun in the German nominative case:

• If the noun ends in -ig, -ling, -mus, -us, -or, -en, -er, then it’s most likely masculine.
  • Examples: Materialismus (materialism), Frühling (spring)
• Should the noun end in -in, -ion, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ei, -ur, -ik, -tät, -anz, or -ie, chances are that it’s feminine.
  • Examples: Geschellschaft (society), Mathematik (mathematics)
• When a noun ends in -tum, -chen, -lein, -ment, or -um, then you likely are looking at a neuter noun.
  • Examples: Märchen (fairy tale), Datum (date)

German nominative articles

An article in German is a part of speech that tells whether a noun is specific or general. In English, there are only three articles: “the,” “a,” and “an.” German takes this a step further with several articles showing information like grammatical case, gender, and number. Since you are studying the nominative case, you’ll only have to look at the gender and number to choose the correct article for the time being.

German articles are one of two types:

• Definite article: This refers to a specific noun known to both the speaker and listener. It points out a particular item or group of items.
  • Example: Das draußen geparkte Auto gehört mir. = The car parked outside belongs to me.
• Indefinite article: This refers to a non-specific noun, one among many possibilities.
  • Example: Können Sie ein Auto fahren? = Can you drive a car?

Below is a table listing all Nominativ articles next to their grammatical gender.

How to adjust adjective endings

Adjective endings in the Nominativ (nominative) case depend on two things: the gender and number of the noun they describe and whether the noun is preceded by a definite or indefinite article. Definite articles have one set of adjective endings, while another set of endings is used with indefinite articles and when there are no articles used at all. 

Understanding what ending to use on an adjective in the nominative case ensures that your sentences are grammatically correct and easily understood by your fellow German speaker. This chart shows the adjective ending that pairs with each nominative case article:

Pronouns in German nominative case

In the nominative case, German pronouns also change depending on the subject of the sentence, much like in English. In the same way that “I” and “me” can refer to the same person in different grammatical cases, the Nominativ case has its list of pronouns in the German language. These pronouns (like reflexive, possessive, etc.) take different forms based on whether they refer to a singular or plural subject and whether the subject is first, second, or third-person.

Remember that there is a formal and an informal register in the German language, so pay close attention to your audience as you decide which German pronoun to use! The pronouns du (you) and ihr (you all) are considered informal, and the pronoun Sie (you/you all) is used in formal communication. The formal Sie is the only pronoun that is always capitalized. If you’re not sure which register to use, then default to the formal register to avoid insulting others.

Check out each German subject pronoun and their English counterparts here:

Remember that pronoun gender is different from grammatical gender. For instance, der Tisch (the table) is grammatically masculine, but you’ll always refer to the table as es (it) rather than the male pronoun er (he) because it’s an object.

Conjugating verbs in the nominative case in German

When using the nominative case in German, verb conjugation depends on the subject of the sentence. To conjugate a verb, you’ll need to know two key terms:

• Infinitiv (infinitive): The unaltered, base form of a verb, which typically ends in -en or -n in German.
  • Examples: lernen (to learn), machen (to do/make)
• Stamm (stem): Found by removing the Infinitiv ending from a verb, typically the -en or -n. Similar to the root in English.
  • Examples: the Stamm of lernen is learn- and the Stamm of machen is mach-

Once you can identify the verb Infinitiv and remove its ending to find the Stamm of the verb, you’re able to conjugate the verb. Conjugating the verb is done by adding a new ending to the verb based on the subject of the sentence. If your sentence uses a noun instead of a pronoun, use the verb ending -t, regardless of the grammatical gender of the noun.

The chart below shows the verb endings for each nominative pronoun, and you’ll find more examples for context below:

Now that you’ve seen the common verb endings, check out these simple sentences demonstrating how verbs change according to the subject pronouns:

• Ich schreibe einen Brief. = I am writing a letter.
• Du kaufst ein Buch = You are buying a book.
• Tanzt er/sie/es in der Stadt? = Does he/she/it dance in the city?
• Wir bauen ein Haus. = We are building a house.
• Ihr besucht den Park. = You all are visiting the park.
• Trinken sie Kaffee? = Do they drink coffee?
• Sie lernen Deutsch. = You are learning German.

These examples show how verbs conjugate with nouns which are not pronouns, regardless of grammatical gender:

• Der Vogel singt. = The bird sings.
• Die Frau lacht. = The woman laughs.
• Das Auto fährt. = The car drives.

Sentence structure for German nominative case

Ready to write your first sentences in German using the nominative case? Fortunately, this is one thing that makes German easy to learn. German uses the subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence structure, meaning the subject of the sentence comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object. The subject is the noun or pronoun performing the action, while the object is the noun or pronoun receiving the action.

You can use this structure to form your first three-word sentences like in the examples below:

• Er trinkt Wasser. = He drinks water.
• Du spielst Fußball. = You play soccer.
• Wir essen Brot. = We eat bread.

Once you’re ready to be more descriptive, follow this word order to form grammatically accurate sentence structures:

1. Article
2. Adjective (with adjusted ending)
3. Noun or pronoun (subject)
4. Verb (conjugated)

Here are a few examples of sentences with nouns that follow this simple sentence structure in the Nominativ case:

• Der alte Mann liest. = The old man reads.
• Eine leise Katze schläft. = A quiet cat sleeps.
• Das kleine Kind spielt. = The small child plays.
• Keine guten Optionen bleiben. = No good options remain.

Practice these two beginner sentence structures to embark on your journey to communicating fluently in German!

Key takeaways for the German nominative case

Understanding the German nominative case is essential for building the foundations of communication in your language learning journey. It’s your first stop in forming your first full German sentences.

Here are some key points to remember about the nominative case in German:

• The Nominativ (nominative) case is used to show what the subject of the sentence is through grammar and is the most basic way to communicate sentences.
• Articles, pronouns, adjective endings, and verb conjugation are all grammatically affected by the nominative case.
• Standard German sentence structure follows the subject-verb-object (SVO) order.