The subject of a sentence is always in the nominative case. We can find the nominative case by asking wer/was – Who/what is performing the action?
The four German Cases are: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Each case can be thought of as a container for a basic part of speech, although it is not limited to the following:
•Nominative = subject
•Accusative = direct object
•Dative = indirect object
•Genitive = possessives
The nominative case in German has multiple components but only one function: it contains the subject noun or pronoun. There are different ways a sentence can include a nominative subject. A predicate noun renames the subject (it can be substituted for the subject and refer to the same person, thing, etc.). A predicate adjective is simply an adjective that describes the subject.
Examples:
Jochen ist mein Freund. (Jochen is my friend.)
This is an example of a predicate noun. Jochen is in the nominative, as is “mein Freund” (my friend).
Jochen ist freundlich. (Jochen is friendly.)
This is an example of an adjective “freundlich” (friendly) that describes the subject, Jochen.
German Gender of Nouns
All German nouns have a grammatical gender. A noun can be masculine, feminine or neuter. Nouns typically come with an article (definite, indefinite, possessive, negative.) Below is the start of your German cases chart, which includes the articles for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns in the Nominative case.
To form a “This/That/These/Those is/are”, we always use “Das”, regardless of the gender of the noun that follows, or whether it is singular or plural.
Example:
Das ist eine Blume. (This is a flower.) “die Blume” is a feminine noun.
Das sind die Kinder. (These are the children) “die Kinder” is a plural noun, hence “die”.
Das ist kein Kaffee. (This is not coffee.) “der Kaffee” is a masculine noun.