in Latin, words in the Nominative case are those that function as a subject or a complement (predicate nominative, predicate adjective) in a sentence.

For Example:
English: "Mary1 is a Roman3 girl2."
Latin: "Maria1 est puella2 Romana3."

English: "John1 is happy3."
Latin: "Johannes1 est felix3."

1 - Acting as a Subject
2 - Acting as a Predicate Nominative
3 - Acting as a Predicate Adjective

In Latin, the Nominative case uses the endings:
      Sing  Plur
1Dec  -a    -ae
2Dec  -us   -i
3Dec  -*    -es
4Dec  -us   -us
5Dec  -es   -es

* - Third Declension singular Nouns can have almost any ending in the Nominative Case. You Just have to memorize them. Tough beans.

back to Latin...