How to Use Nominative Case in German

The German language has four cases: nominative, accusative (dealing with direct objects), dative (dealing with indirect objects), and genitive (dealing with possession). Cases demonstrate the function of nouns or pronouns in a sentence. Nominative is generally the easiest case in German. Nouns and adjectives in their standard form typically use the nominative case. In German, most nouns and adjectives also appear in the dictionary in nominative form. One way to approach the nominative case is to think of "nominating" or "naming."

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. In a German sentence, the subject and the predicate noun take the nominative case. For example, take the sentence “Herr Meyer ist der Zahnarzt” (Mr. Meyer is the dentist). Herr Meyer (the subject) and der Zahnarzt (the male dentist, predicate noun) take the nominative.

2. Learn the nominative forms of the definite articles (the). German nouns are masculine, feminine, neuter or plural. The definite articles change depending on the gender of the noun. Masculine singular is “der.” Feminine singular is “die.” Neuter singular is “das.” Plural is “die.” Let’s look at a few examples. “Der Fernseher macht mir Spass” (The television is entertaining). “Die Schauspielerin ist lustig” (The actress is funny). “Das Boot ist gross” (The boat is big). “Die Hunde sind energisch.” (The dogs are energetic).

3. Learn the nominative forms of the indefinite articles (a, not a). In German, "Ein" means a or one. "Kein" means no, not a, not any or not one. Ein and kein follow the same pattern. Masculine singular is “(k)ein.” Feminine singular is “(k)eine.” Neuter singular is “(k)ein.” Plural is “keine.” There is no plural of “ein.” Let’s look at a few examples. “Ein Fernseher macht mir Spass” (A television is entertaining). “Eine Schauspielerin ist lustig” (An actress is funny). “Ein Boot ist gross” (A boat is big). “Keine Hunde sind energisch” (No dogs are energetic).

4. In German, the possessive adjectives mein (mine), dein (your), sein (his) and Ihr (your polite) follow the same pattern as ein and kein. Let’s look at a few examples. “Mein Vater ist intelligent” (My father is smart). “Deine Mutter ist glücklich” (Your mother is happy). “Sein Boot ist gross” (His boat is big). “Ihre Hunde sind energisch” (Your dogs are energetic).

5. Learn the nominative forms of the interrogative pronouns. In German, the nominative form of “who” is “wer.” The nominative form of “what” is “was.” Let’s look at a few examples. “Wer kann Englisch sprechen?” (Who can speak English?) “Was machst du jetzt?” (What are you doing now?) If the interrogative pronoun asks who or what, then you would use nominative case.

Tips & Warnings

• If a noun can be replaced by a personal pronoun (I, you, he, she, it or they), then you would use the nominative case. For example, “Wer ist der Kellner?” (Who is the waiter?) could be answered as “Er ist der Kellner” (He is the waiter) or “Er heisst Fritz” (He is called Fritz).

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.