nominatiivsingularis

Nominativsingularis, usually referred to as the nominative singular, is a grammatical category used in languages that mark nouns and sometimes adjectives for case and number. It designates singular number and the nominative case, which is typically used for the subject of a clause or for a predicate noun.

In languages with rich inflection, the nominative singular typically marks the noun’s base form in the paradigm. It often appears as the dictionary form of the noun and serves as the form under which the noun is declined. Adjectives and determiners may agree with the noun in gender, number, and case within the nominative singular.

Functions of the nominative singular include: marking the subject of a finite verb, forming predicate nouns after linking verbs, and serving as the base form in lexicons. Its exact behavior varies by language. Some languages use distinctive word endings to indicate nominative singular, while others rely on word order or function words rather than inflection on the noun itself.

Examples illustrate differences among languages. In Latin, rosa is nominative singular (the rose). In German, Der Hund is nominative singular for masculine nouns. In Russian, книги is nominative singular feminine for "kniga" (book). In English, nouns generally do not change form for nominative case, and subject nouns like “cat” and “dog” appear in the nominative position without a dedicated morphological ending.

See also: case (linguistics), nominative case, declension.