Latin grammar
The nominative
cāsus nōminātīvus
The nominative is the case of the subject: the person or thing the verb is about. In creavit Deus, God is the one who creates, so Deus is nominative.
What it does
- It names the subject of a verb: fiat lux, “let there be light”.
- After sum (be), and verbs such as fīō (become) and appellor (be called), the word that says what the subject is is nominative too, because it names the same thing: Terra erat inanis, “the earth was formless”.
- A name or title standing on its own, outside any sentence, is nominative.
How to spot it
Latin order is free, so the subject can stand anywhere. Look for a nominative ending, then check the verb: it agrees with its subject in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb (lux fit), a plural one a plural verb (oppida cingunt).
Endings
| Declension | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -a (puella) | -ae (puellae) |
| 2nd | -us, -er, -um (servus, puer, bellum) | -ī, -a (servī, bella) |
| 3rd | varies (rēx, nōmen) | -ēs, -a (rēgēs, nōmina) |
| 4th | -us, -ū (manus, cornū) | -ūs, -ua |
| 5th | -ēs (diēs) | -ēs |
A neuter noun has the same form in the nominative and the accusative, so bellum and nōmina can be either: the verb and the sense decide.
In the texts
Real lines from the graded passages, as the reader shows them: the nominative stands out in its colour, and an arc joins the word to what it goes with.
In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Deus is the subject of creavit. Caelum and terram, the things made, are accusative.
Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssi: et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas.
But the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was carried over the waters.
Terra is the subject of erat; inanis and vacua say what the earth was, so they are nominative too.
Haec omnia oppida urbem cingunt.
All these towns encircle the city.
Oppida is the subject. Its neuter plural -a could be accusative, but the plural verb cingunt and the accusative urbem settle it.
Words read in the nominative
Words from the library’s analysed texts, with the forms they took in the nominative.