The nominative marks, above all, the subject of a sentence, i.e., the person or thing that acts, thinks, or is described. It also appears with predicate nouns after copular verbs such as sein, werden and bleiben. Additionally, it occurs in forms of address, in titles, and often as the subject of nominalized infinitives.

In the nominative, the definite articles der, die, das and die in the plural. With proper names, an article is often omitted, though in some dialects an article may appear before the name. The form is particularly important in the nominative because it makes subjects quickly recognizable.

The indefinite articles in the nominative are ein for masculine and neuter as well as eine for feminine. In the plural there is no indefinite article, when no quantity is expressly stated. These forms indicate that something is newly introduced or not specified.

With the negative article, a noun in the nominative is negated. The forms are kein, keine, kein and keine in the plural. It behaves like the indefinite article and therefore sits directly before the noun.

Personal pronouns in the nominative replace the subject and agree with person, number and politeness. The forms are ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie and Sie. In a sentence, their nominative form appears where the acting or described unit is meant.

The question form 'wer' stands in the nominative when asking about the person or thing as the subject. As relative forms, der, die and das appear when they refer back to a noun in the nominative in a subordinate clause. With nominalized infinitives, the verb can become the subject, as in reading or sleeping.

Adjectives in the nominative adjust their endings to the article and gender. After definite articles, weak endings; after indefinite articles, mixed endings; and without articles, strong endings. In the nominative it is especially important that neuter and plural share endings with the accusative, while masculine differs clearly.

The impersonal it can stand as a placeholder in the nominative, especially with weather or formal structures. Proper names are often written without an article, though in spoken German it is used regionally as well. Compared with other cases, the nominative is usually not triggered by a preposition, but by the function of the sentence itself.

The nominative marks mainly the subject and the predicate noun, and thus shows who is acting or what someone or something is. Its forms with articles, pronouns and adjectives must be reliably recognized, because they carry the basic structure in many sentences. For the other cases, this form is the starting point, while neuter and plural in the nominative especially easily coincide with the accusative.