FAM: The German Case System - Nominative Case Review

The German Case System - Nominative Case Review

Nominative Case: If a noun or pronoun is the subject or predicate of a sentence it is said to be in the nominative case. Every time you learn a new noun in German, let's say die Katze, you are learning it in the nominative case.

The following are the nominative case forms in each category.

  • Definite Articles:
    • der, die, das
  • Indefinite Articles:
    • ein, eine, kein, keine
  • Personal Pronouns
    • ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie
  • Possessive Adjectives (these will be covered in this module)
    • mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr
How to find the subject What is a predicate?

Thought Question

If someone calls your cell phone asking for you and says "Is (your name) there?"

  • Do you answer "This is she/he." or "This is her/him." and why?

The correct answer is This is she/he. Just like in German the Nominative case follows the verb to be (sein). Her/Him cannot be used as the subject/predicate of the sentence.

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