Introduction

The basic use of the nominative is to function as the subject of a verb. This means that the nominative does the verb.

I walk
You talk
The cat purrs
The stone sinks
The ship sails
We die
You all row
Babies cry
Banks close

The emphasised words are the nominatives.

This is the form of any noun that you look up in a dictionary.

For the endings see the pages on individual declensions:

  1. 1st declension nouns
  2. 2nd declension nouns
  3. 3rd declension nouns
  4. 4th declension nouns
  5. 5th declension nouns

The subject of a verb can be a pronoun (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they etc.). In this case, it is not expressed in Latin, because the ending of the verb tells you who the subject is.

I walk
ambulo

No word for 'I' is necessary.

The subject of a verb can also be any noun or collection of nouns, such as 'the cat, the stone, the ship, banks, babies' in the above examples. English sometimes uses the definite article 'the', but not always. It is easy in Latin, because there is no definite article, so:

The cat felis
The rock scopulus
The ship navis