The nominative case answers the questions кто? (who?) and что? (what?). It is the dictionary form, and it marks the subject of a sentence — the person or thing performing the action.
The person or thing doing the action stands in the nominative.
Russian omits the verb "to be" in the present tense, so both parts of an "A is B" sentence stand in the nominative, often separated by a dash in writing.
The nominative is the form you find in dictionaries and vocabulary lists. Its ending also tells you the noun's gender (‑а/‑я feminine, ‑о/‑е neuter, a consonant or й masculine), which determines every other case ending. When you learn a new noun, start with its nominative form.
| Masc hard стол |
Masc soft слова́рь |
Fem (‑а) ко́мната |
Fem (‑я/‑ь) пло́щадь |
Neuter ме́сто |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nouns — Singular | |||||
| Sg | стол | слова́рь | ко́мната | пло́щадь | ме́сто |
| Nouns — Plural | |||||
| Pl | столы́ | словари́ | ко́мнаты | пло́щади | места́ |
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard но́вый |
но́вый | но́вое | но́вая | но́вые |
| Soft си́ний |
си́ний | си́нее | си́няя | си́ние |
| я | ты | он / оно́ | она́ | мы | вы | они́ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| я | ты | он / оно́ | она́ | мы | вы | они́ |
The nominative is the dictionary form, so the difficulty is not producing it but knowing when a noun stays in it and when another case takes over. Ruscases drills that choice in complete sentences under a timer.