My Slavic Studies

Nom.

Gen.

Dat.

Acc.

Inst.

Prep.

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The nominative case, именительный падеж, is the first of the six cases in Russian. It answers the following questions: кто? and что?

It serves the purpose of indicating the subject in a sentence.

The nominative case is the base form for all nouns in Russian. This means that every noun you find in a dictionary will be listed in this case, followed by any irregularities in other cases.

This is just about all the nominative case is used for. It’s a relatively simple case.

But, as usual, this case has another usage or two. Let’s observe all the usages below.

To learn more about the nominative and how to form the plural forms, click here and here.

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The nominative case is used…

to indicate the subject in a sentence

Виталий – труднолюбивый мужчина. Vitalii is a hard-working man.

Флаг белый, красный и синий. The flag is white, red and blue.

Анатолий и Геннадий – друзья с детства. Anatolii and Gennadiy are childhood friends.

На острове есть вулкан. There’s a volcano on the island.

with introductory words such as: это (this is, it is), вот (here), сейчас (now), сегодня (today), etc.

Это ужин при свечах. It’s a candlelight dinner.

Вот ответ на вопрос. Here’s the answer to the question.

Сегодня вторник. Today’s Tuesday.

with the preposition за

Что это за дерево? What kind of tree is this?

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And there you have it. The nominative case in all its usages.