Case nominative

Glossary

Nominative is the case used to identify the subject. Because verbs include the subject, the nominative case is used in apposition (or placed next) to the subject of the verb to add further identification. The nominative case is also used as a predicate nominative to equate or describe the subject when used with a linking verb. The nominative is normally the form listed as the headword in a dictionary entry (as the lemma).

John 11:35    
ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς
edakrysen ho Iēsous
he wept the Jesus

Jesus wept.

Article

The nominative case is the case of designation or identity. It is used to:

  1. identify, designate or name the subject of the sentence,
  2. used in apposition to the subject of the sentence or another noun,
  3. used as a predicate nominative, or
  4. may stand alone without a verb for emphasis.

Form

The nominative case is formed by adding the nominative case ending to the stem of a word (often with a connecting vowel).

Nominative Case Ending
First and Second Declension Third Declencion
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine/Feminine Neuter
Singular
Nominative ς - ν ς -
Plural
Nominative ι ι α ες α

Note:

  • The hyphen (-) indicates there is no case ending for feminine singular first and second declension nouns.
  • There is no case ending for third declension neuter singular nouns, but the final stem letter may undergo changes.

See NounParadigm for a complete listing of the noun paradigms and AdjectiveParadigm for the adjective paradigms.

Nominative-Subject

The primary use of the nominative case is to identify the subject of the sentence. The definite article will also be in the nominative case when it is modifying the subject of the sentence as can be seen in the example below.

John 3:35        
ὁ Πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν Υἱόν
ho Patēr agapa ton huion
the Father he loves the Son

The Father loves the Son.

The reader will notice that the verb includes the subject of the sentence “he” as part of a third person singular verb. ὁ Πατὴρ identifies the subject by pointing specifically to the Father. Therefore the nominative-subject also stands in apposition (or next to) the subject that is included as a part of the verb, but helps to clarify the subject of the verb with the additional information.

The nominative case is also used for adjectives and participles modifying the subject. This is because adjectives and participles use the same case of the noun they are modifying. (They also have the same gender and number as the word they are modifying) See Adjectives .

Example – The adjective (καλός) and the noun (ποιμὴν) are both in the nominative case.

John 10:11                    
ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων
ho poimēn ho kalos tēn psychēn autou tithēsin hyper tōn probatōn
the shepherd the good the life of him he lays down in behalf of the sheep

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Example – The participle (βλέπων) and the noun (Πατήρ) being modified are both in the nominative case. (Like adjectives, participles agree with the noun they modify in case, number, and gender). See Participles.

Matthew 6:6                  
ὁ Πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ ἀποδώσει σοι.
ho patēr sou ho blepōn en tō kryptō apodōsei soi.
the Father of you who is seeing in the secret he will reward to you

your Father who sees in secret will reward you

If an adjective or participle is serving as the subject of the sentence, they will be in the nominative case.

Romans 1:17          
ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται.
ho de dikaios ek pisteōs zēsetai.
the indeed righteous by faith he will live.

But, the righteous will live by faith.

Nominative – Apposition

Apposition means “next to” or “beside.” Sometimes a second noun is placed next to the subject of the sentence (or clause) to add additional information (to further describe the subject of the sentence). This is the Nominative of Apposition. The Nominative-Apposition sometimes will modify the subject of the sentence, or it may modify a noun that is not the subject and is not in the nominative case. However, the Nominative-Apposition will still be in the nominative case because it is identifying or designating the noun. In the example below ὁ μάρτυς and ὁ προτότοκος are both in the nominative case and are in apposition to Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ which is in the genitive case.

Example:

Revelation 1:5                      
καὶ ἀπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν…
kai apo Iēsou Christou ho martys ho pistos ho prōtotokos tōn nekrōn…
and from Jesus Christ the witness the faithful the firstborn from the dead…

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead…

Nominative-Predicate

Linking verbs such as εἰμί, γίνομαι, and ὑπάρχω are completed with an object in nominative case. The Nominative-Predicate (also referred to as Predicate Nominative) construction can take different forms but consists of a subject + a linking verb + an object in the nominative case. [The linking verb may be implied and not actually present in the text.] Care must be used in the translation of a Nominative-Predicate because the object may not be in the last position and is often not an exact equivalent of the subject. The Predicate Nominative is generally the larger class of objects, while the subject is the smaller class. Therefore, the translator must clearly understand which word (or phrase) is the subject of the sentence and which word (or phrase) is the predicate nominative. The translator must use equal care in the translation so that the reader will be able to distinguish between the subject and the predicate nominative.

Consider the sentence, “Paul is a man.” “Paul” is the subject and “man” is the Nominative-Predicate. The translator must be careful to first understand the passage and then take equal care in the translation to make sure the reader understands that Paul is the subject and man is the Nominative-Predicate. English uses word order to indicate which word is the subject and which word is the Predicate Nominative. Therefore reversing the word order in English to say “a man is Paul” would lead the reader to think that all men are “Paul” which is not true. The more definite of the two words (or clauses) in the nominative case will be the subject of the sentence.

Greek, for the most part, does not use position to distinguish between subject and the predicate nominative. In Greek the predicate nominative may be moved in front of the subject to place an emphasis on the predicate nominative.

The following basic rules will help to clarify which word (or clause) is the subject of the sentence and which word (or clause) is the predicate nominative for the sentence in Koine Greek.

NOTE: In Koine Greek, the linking verb may be omitted entirely, and may have to be supplied by the reader (or translator) to complete the sentence. (an example of this will be given below.)

As stated above, the more definite of the two nominatives will be the subject of the sentence. Therefore…

  1. if only one of the words in the nominative case is a pronoun, then the pronoun will be the subject. The pronoun may be included as a part of the verb.
Matthew 5:14          
ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου.
hymeis este to phōs tou kosmou.
you you are the light of the world.

You are the light of the world.

When Jesus spoke to the crowd and said “you”, they had a clear understanding of who the “you” was referring to. It was referring to them. “You” is the subject. “The light” is the predicate nominative.

Matthew 14:33      
ἀληθῶς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς εἶ
alēthōs theou huios ei
truly of God Son you are

Truly you are the Son of God.

In this sentence, the subject “you” is included in the verb εἶ. Υἱὸς is the predicate nominative.

  1. If only one of the words in the nominative case is preceded with the article, the word with the article is the subject.
John 1:1        
καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
kai theos ēn ho logos
and God was the word

and the Word was God

John 1:14        
καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
kai ho logos sarx egeneto
and the word flesh it became

The Word became flesh

  1. If only one of the words in the nominative case is a proper name, the proper name will be the subject.
James 5:17        
Ἠλείας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν
Ēleias anthrōpos ēn homoiopathēs hemin
Elijah a man he was like/or with a nature like us

Elijah was a man just like us.

Notice that in this example both the subject (Ἠλείας) and the predicate nominative (ἂνθρςπος) come before the verb.

4) If one of the nouns in the nominative case is a pronoun and one is a proper name, the pronoun will be the subject and the proper name will be the predicate nominative.

Matthew 16:20      
αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός
autos estin ho Christos
he he is the Christ

He is the Christ.

Matthew 11:14    
αὐτός ἐστιν Ἠλείας
autos estin Ēleias
he he is Elijah

He is Elijah

  1. If…
  1. both have the article or
  2. both are proper names or
  3. one has the article and the other is a proper name,
…then the one that comes first is the subject.
John 15:1          
ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστιν.
ho Patēr mou ho geōrgos estin
the Father my the farmer/gardener he is

My Father is the gardener

6) Some times εις + accusative is used for the predicate nominative. This may occur with γίνομαι, εἰμί, or λογίζομαι. This portrays a process of something “changing into” something else. In English, it is translated with a predicate nominative and the εἰς is not translated. [D R A F T]

Mark 10:8            
καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο **εἰς σάρκα** μίαν
kai esontai hoi dyo **eis sarka** mian
and they will become the two   flesh one

and the two will become one flesh

Nominative–Stand_alone

A word or clause may appear in the nominative case without a verb or a direct object. This may occur in the greeting of a letter, titles, headings, or to make something a heading by giving it special emphasis. A word or clause may also appear in the nominative case to express the emotion of the writer. In these cases, there is no intent of the writer to form a complete sentence.

For example see the greeting of the book of Jude.

Jude 1            
Ἰούδας Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ἰακώβου
Ioudas Iēsou Christou doulos adelphos de Iakōbou
Jude of Jesus of Christ a slave brother and of James

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James

In Romans 11:33, Paul cries out with emotion

Romans 11:33              
ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως Θεοῦ
ō bathos ploutou kai sophias kai gnōseōs theou
Oh depth of riches both of wisdom and of knowledge of God

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!