The Nominative for Subjects

Level 1

The nominative is the form you find in a dictionary. Use it for the subject, the person or thing the sentence is about: Students lasa. (The student is reading.)

How It Works

The nominative is the form you look up. Its singular endings are -s, -š, -is, -us for masculine nouns and -a, -e, -s for feminine nouns: galds, ceļš, brālis, tirgus, māja, upe, pils. The plural endings are -i, -as, -es, -is. See plural nouns.

Use the nominative for:

  • The subject, the one who does something or is something: Līga strādā bankā. (Līga works at a bank.) Māja ir liela. (The house is big.)
  • The noun after ir that says who or what the subject is: Viņš ir ārsts. (He is a doctor.) Tas ir galds. (That is a table.)
  • A name after Mani sauc: Mani sauc Ieva. (My name is Ieva.) The name does not change. See giving your name.
  • The thing in man patīk and man ir: Man patīk pica. (I like pizza.) Man ir brālis. (I have a brother.) The person is in the dative, and the thing is the grammatical subject, so it stays nominative. See liking with patīk and having with man ir.

Word order does not change the case. The subject is still nominative when it comes after the verb: Kur ir stacija? (Where is the station?) Stacijā ir kafejnīca. (There is a café at the station.)

The verb agrees with the subject. In the third person, the singular and plural use the same form: Students lasa (the student is reading), Studenti lasa (the students are reading).

The pronouns es, tu, viņš, viņa are nominative forms too. Latvian often leaves them out because the verb ending already shows who: Esmu mājās. (I'm at home.) See leaving out subject pronouns.

Examples (6)

  1. Students lasa grāmatu.

    The student is reading a book.

    Word by Word: Student reads book.

    Students is nominative because it is the subject. Grāmatu is the object.

  2. Līga strādā bankā.

    Līga works at a bank.

    Word by Word: Līga works at-bank.

  3. Viņš ir ārsts.

    He's a doctor.

    Word by Word: He is doctor.

    After ir, ārsts stays nominative.

  4. Kur ir stacija?

    Where is the station?

    Word by Word: Where is station?

    The subject stacija comes after the verb but is still nominative.

  5. Mani sauc Ieva.

    My name is Ieva.

    Word by Word: Me (they) call Ieva.

    The name stays in the nominative.

  6. Man patīk pica.

    I like pizza.

    Word by Word: To-me pleases pizza.

    Pica is the grammatical subject of patīk, so it is nominative.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the name after Mani sauc in the object form.

    Mani sauc Ievu.
    Mani sauc Ieva.

    Mani is already the object. The name itself stays in the nominative.

  • Using the object form after ir.

    Viņš ir ārstu.
    Viņš ir ārsts.

    The noun after ir describes the subject, so it takes the same case, the nominative.

  • Changing the subject's ending when it comes after the verb.

    Kur ir staciju?
    Kur ir stacija?

    Stacija is still the subject, so it keeps the nominative ending.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

The Nominative for SubjectsLevel 1

Learn This First

The nominative is the first case to use.

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Patterns that build on this one.