The Nominative case in Russian is the initial form of Russian nouns. You’ll find nouns in dictionaries and vocabulary only in the Nominative case form.
Nominative case answers the questions:
“who?” – Кто?
“what?” – Что?
Nominative case in Russian can be divided into 3 main rules:
1. The Nominative Case Speaks About a Person or Thing Performing an Action or Being in a State
Мама читает – Mother is reading.
мама = мама (there are no changes in the sentence for the subject “мама” because it indicates the doer of the action.)
2. The Nominative Case Defines the Person or Thing – or – Refers them to a Certain Group of People or Things
Это мама. – This is a mother.
Она мама. – She is a mother.
Вова – студент. – Vova is a student.
3. The Nominative Case Designates the Person or Thing to Which the Action is Directed
Ребёнок накормлен заботливой мамой – The child is nourished by an attentive mother.
Машина не видна – The car is not seen.
Formation of Nominative Case:
Regular endings for singular Nominative case form:
| Gender | Singular |
|---|---|
| Masculine | Ø / -й / -ь |
| Feminine | -a /-я / -ь |
| Neutral | -о /-е |
To get examples of Formation of Plural Nominative Case check out our “Plural form of Russian Nouns“ article.