In short

The nominative (називни́й відмі́нок) is the base, “dictionary” form of a noun, adjective or pronoun. Its main job is to name the subject — the person or thing that the sentence is about. It answers the questions хто? (“who?”, for people and animals) and що? (“what?”, for things and ideas). When you look a word up, this is the form you find, and this is where you should start before learning any of the other six cases.

The rule

Ukrainian marks a noun’s role in the sentence by changing its ending (its case). The nominative is the “resting” case — the one with no special job attached beyond naming. Use it for:

• The subject — the doer of the action or the thing being described: Ді́ти гра́ють (“The children are playing”).
• A naming/predicate noun after це (“this is / these are”): Це кни́га (“This is a book”). The named thing stays nominative, it does not change.
• A predicate noun in the present tense, because Ukrainian normally drops the present-tense verb “to be”: Вона́ лі́карка (“She is a doctor”). Both the pronoun and the noun are nominative.
• The label of a thing standing on its own — a title, a sign, a word in a list: Украї́на, Ки́їв, вода́.

Because the nominative is the citation form, the ending also tells you the noun’s gender: a bare consonant is usually masculine, -а/-я usually feminine, -о/-е neuter (see the gender lesson).

Forms & patterns

The nominative has no added case ending of its own — the endings below are simply the noun’s natural shape. Notice how the plural is formed, and how the stress often shifts between singular and plural.

The two questions the nominative answers:

Personal pronouns in the nominative: я, ти, він, вона́, воно́, ми, ви, вони́. These are the subject forms — the ones you meet first before the pronoun declension lesson.

Examples

Common mistakes

• Це мою́ кни́гу -> Це моя́ кни́га — a naming word after «це» stays nominative, it does not take the accusative.
• Вона́ є студе́нтка -> Вона́ студе́нтка — Ukrainian drops «є» in the present; the predicate noun stays nominative, not something “special”.
• Хло́пця чита́є -> Хло́пець чита́є — the doer of the action is the subject, so it must be nominative, never genitive or accusative.
• шука́ти «во́ду» у словнику́ -> шука́ти «вода́» у словнику́ — dictionaries cite the nominative singular, so look up вода́, not an inflected form.
• Це є стіл -> Це стіл — there is no present-tense “is”; adding «є» here sounds unnatural.

Tips

• The nominative is the form you meet in a dictionary — every noun, adjective and pronoun is listed here, so make it your reference point.
• To find the subject, ask хто? for people and animals or що? for things; the word that answers is in the nominative.
• No copula in the present: say «Це стіл», not «Це є стіл». The nominative alone carries the “is”.
• Predicate nouns after це and after a dropped «бути» stay nominative — both halves of “X is Y” share the same case.
• Learn the whole word, not just the ending: the plural frequently moves the stress (вікно́ → ві́кна, земля́ → зе́млі).
• The nominative ending is your gender clue — consonant → usually masculine, -а/-я → feminine, -о/-е → neuter.