Hi friend!
Welcome to part two in my 5-part series on understanding Latin cases. In this post, I’ll cover the Latin nominative and its four primary uses. I’ll also provide examples, visuals, and tips to help you become a nominative pro in no time.
But first, let’s go back to the basics.
The Basics
Latin is an inflected language. This means that words have endings that tell us their grammatical function in a sentence. This is way different from English, which only has some inflection and worries a lot more about word order than anything else.
Nouns and adjectives are organized and inflected using the case system. There are five primary cases (and two less common cases):
- Nominative ➡️ the subject of a sentence
- Genitive ➡️ most often used for possession
- Dative ➡️ the indirect object
- Accusative ➡️ typically acts as the direct object
- Ablative ➡️ the object of prepositions
- Vocative ➡️ used for direct address
- Locative ➡️ used to indicate place (with specific words)
Stay tuned for posts on the genitive, dative, ablative, vocative, and locative. For now, let’s jump into the nominative case.
What is it?
How do you use it?
And, most importantly, how can you understand it without feeling overwhelmed?
What is the nominative case?
The word “nominative” comes from the Latin nomen, meaning “name.” This is because the most common use of the nominative case is to literally “name” or mark the subject of a sentence.
However, there are a total of 4 uses of the nominative case. We’ll go over each in detail.
Before we dive in to uses, let’s talk forms…
The nominative ending changes depending on the declension of your noun. Check out this table to see what I mean:
1. Nominative as the subject of finite verbs
The nominative is most commonly used as the subject of finite verbs (i.e. verbs that are conjugated and have a person, number, and tense).
When you’re working with an active verb, the nominative is the thing doing the action of the verb. For example:
The dog paints a masterpiece.
In this example, “dog” is the subject because it’s performing the action of the active verb. Therefore, “dog” would be in the nominative case.
On the other hand, when you’re working with a passive verb, the subject (or nominative) is receiving the action of the verb or being verbed. So,
“Masterpiece” is now the subject because it is being “painted” by the dog.
Let’s see it in Latin:
Puella fabulam narrat. ➡️ The girl tells a story.
- Puella is the subject of narrat (which is an active verb). She is the one doing the action of the verb, or “telling” the story.
Regina ab populo amatur. ➡️ The queen is loved by the people.
- Regina is the subject of amatur (which is a passive verb). She is the one being verbed.
📝 A note on active and passive verbs: Are you confused by the whole active/passive thing? If so, you’re not alone. English typically uses active verbs, but Latin uses both all the time.
The difference is this:
- active verbs are performed by their subject. In the phrase, “I love,” I am the subject and am the one doing the loving. That means the verb is active.
- passive verbs are received by their subject. In the phrase, “I am loved,” I am still the subject, but this time I’m the one being loved by someone else. That means the verb is passive.
2. Predicate nominative
Another common use of the nominative case is what’s called the predicate nominative. This is a word that complements or redefines the subject of a sentence by describing it as a new noun phrase.
The predicate nominative is called such because it’s a nominative noun that appears in the predicate of a sentence (see below to learn more about predicates).
For example:
- The cat is a friend. ➡️ Felis est amica.
- You seem to be a leader. ➡️ Tu dux esse videris.
Notice that there are two nominatives in both of these examples. One is the subject nominative, the other is a predicate nominative. In the first example, felis is the nominative subject of the verb est. However, amica is a also nominative because it’s redefining and describing the felis.
In other words, cat = friend.
📝 Note: By now, you might be thinking, Olivia, what the heck is a predicate? And I get it, trust me. Here’s how I think about it:
The predicate is basically everything in a sentence except for the subject.
| Sentence | Predicate |
|---|---|
| The cat purrs. | purrs |
| The cat purrs nonstop for an hour on the girl’s lap. | purrs nonstop for an hour on the girl’s lap. |
| The cat purrs nonstop and lays on the girl's lap. | purrs nonstop and lays on the girl's lap. |
3. Predicate adjective
This use of the nominative is very similar to the predicate nominative. Just like the predicate nominative, a predicate adjective redefines and describes the subject of a sentence via a linking verb (like esse or viderī). The only difference is:
Predicate nominatives are nouns while predicate adjectives are... you guessed it, adjectives.
Here’s what they look like:
- The cat is the friendliest. ➡️ Felix est amicissima.
- You seem tired. ➡️ Defessus videris.
In the first example, both felix and amicissima are in the nominative case. Felix is the subject of the sentence and amicissima is an adjective in the predicate that further describes the subject.
In other words, we’re taking the phrase, “friendliest cat” and turning it into a sentence with a verb: The cat is the friendliest.
4. Nominative in exclamations
Although this function is typically reserved for the accusative case, the nominative is sometimes used with exclamations.
A great example of this appears in book four of Vergil’s Aeneid, when Dido expresses her sadness and anger towards Aeneas.
Ēn dextra fidēsque (Aen. 4.597) ➡️ Behold the right hand and faith (of him).
In this example, Ēn is an exclamation meaning “behold.” Then, dextra and fidēs are both nominatives working with the exclamation.
📝 Note: You won’t see this often, but when you do run into exclamations, remember that there might be a nominative floating around (instead of the accusative you’d expect).
Conclusion
The nominative case is arguably the most important because without it, you have no subject. That’s why it’s important to take your time with these uses.
I know it probably seems like a lot, but that’s okay. And if you remember these 🔑 takeaways, you’ll be a nominative pro before you know it:
- The nominative case has 4 possible uses, and only three of them are common uses.
- The subject of a verb is always nominative.
- If the verb is active, the subject is doing the action of the verb.
- If the verb is passive, the subject is receiving the action of the verb.
- Predicate nominatives and adjectives work exactly the same way (and are basically the same thing). The only difference is that predicate nominatives are nouns and predicate adjectives are adjectives.
If you found this helpful and are looking for more on the Latin cases, check out my post on the Latin accusative case. Plus, stay tuned for the next installment in my series.
Have questions? Let me know in the comments or send me a message here.
With love and Latin,
💖 Olivia