Это Анна. Анна читает.This is Anna. Anna is reading.

Russian has six cases: forms a noun takes depending on its job in the sentence. The nominative is the first and simplest one. It is the form you find in the dictionary (стол, книга, окно), and you use it when a noun is the subject (who or what does something or is something) or when you are simply identifying a person or thing.

Quick shortcut: the nominative is the dictionary form. It answers кто? (who?) for people and animals and что? (what?) for things.

Questions: кто? and что?

Question Asks about Example
кто? a person or an animal Кто это? — Это Анна. (Who is this? This is Anna.)
что? a thing Что это? — Это стол. (What is this? This is a table.)

The answer is always in the nominative, because it is just naming the person or thing.

Where the nominative is used

  1. Naming and identifying, usually after это. Это книга. Это мой брат. The word это ("this is / that is") doesn't change for gender or number: Это стол. Это лампа. Это окно. Это книги.
  2. The subject of the sentence. Мама работает. (Mum works.) Дети играют. (The children are playing.) The subject is whoever or whatever does the action or is described.
  3. Someone's name after зовут. Меня зовут Анна. (My name is Anna.) The name stays in the nominative, even though меня ("me") is in a different case.
  4. A noun that says what someone or something is, in the present tense. Russian has no word for "am / is / are" in the present, so the noun stays in the nominative: Он врач. (He is a doctor.) Анна студентка. (Anna is a student.) In the past and future (Он был врачом) or with a verb like работать (Он работает врачом), the noun usually takes the instrumental case instead. The present-tense pattern is in Zero copula and existential есть, and the instrumental in The instrumental case: means, profession and predicates.
  5. The headword in a dictionary and the form you use when you just say a word on its own: Книга.

Case endings help show the subject

In English the subject usually comes first, and that is how you know it is the subject. In Russian the subject often comes first as well, but the case endings often tell you as well, so word order can be freer. The other nouns in the sentence take other case endings:

  • Мама любит папу. (Mum loves Dad.) Папу любит мама. (It is Mum who loves Dad.)

Both sentences have the same subject, мама, because only мама is in the nominative. Папу has changed to a different case (the accusative), which tells you it is the object. (Some nouns look the same in both cases, for example стол in Студент видит стол, so context and word order still matter too.) The accusative has its own lessons, starting with The accusative case: inanimate objects.

Other cases change the ending, the nominative doesn't

The nominative is the "base" form. When a noun takes another job, its ending usually changes:

Nominative Example in another case
книга Я читаю книгу. (I'm reading a book.)
школа Я в школе. (I'm at school.)
Анна Это книга Анны. (This is Anna's book.)

You don't need to memorise these yet. What matters at this stage is spotting the nominative: the form used for naming, for the subject and, in the present tense, for the noun that says what someone or something is. Gender (see Noun gender) and plural (see Plural of nouns in the nominative) already have their own lessons.

Common mistakes

  • ❌ Это книгу. → ✅ Это книга. (after это the noun only identifies something, so it stays in the nominative)
  • ❌ Меня зовут Анну. → ✅ Меня зовут Анна. (a name after зовут stays in the nominative)
  • ❌ Он врача. → ✅ Он врач. (in the present tense, "he is a doctor" keeps the noun in the nominative)
  • ❌ Мама читает книга. → ✅ Мама читает книгу. (мама is the subject and stays in the nominative, but the thing being read leaves the nominative: this is the accusative, covered in its own lesson)

Quick check

Which form fits?

  1. "Кто это? — Это ____." (Анна / Анну)
  2. "Что это? — Это ____." (стол / стола)
  3. "Меня зовут ____." (Иван / Ивана)
  4. "Мама читает книгу." Which noun is the subject: мама or книгу?
  5. "Он ____." (врач / врача)
Show answers
  1. Анна (identifying someone: nominative)   2. стол (identifying a thing: nominative)   3. Иван (the name stays in the nominative)   4. мама (it is in the nominative; книгу has changed to the accusative)   5. врач (the nominative after the missing "is")

Key takeaways

  • The nominative is the dictionary form of a noun. It answers кто? (people, animals) and что? (things).
  • It is the form of the subject, of the noun in Это … and Меня зовут …, and of a noun that says what someone is in the present tense (Он врач).
  • Russian often shows the subject by its nominative form, not only by word order; other jobs in the sentence use other case endings.
  • Answers to Кто это? and Что это? are always in the nominative.