Nouns: Nominative Case

01

The Subject

• Vyras skaito.

  The man is reading.

• Mergaitė miega.

  The girl is sleeping.

• Autobusas atvažiuoja.

  The bus is arriving.

Because the verb ending already shows the person, a pronoun subject is often dropped - but a noun subject normally stays, in the nominative.

02

After "to be"

When you say what or who someone is, the describing noun also usually stands in the nominative (the linking word yra is often left out):

• Jis gydytojas.

  He is a doctor.

• Tai mano draugas.

  This is my friend.

• Vilnius yra miestas.

  Vilnius is a city.

(For a role held only for a time rather than permanently, that describing noun can go into the instrumental instead.)

03

The Endings

The nominative singular endings are exactly the ones that signal gender:

• Masculine: -as (vyras), -is (brolis), -ys (arklys), -us (sūnus).
• Feminine: -a (knyga), -ė (gatvė), and some in -is (moteris).

In the plural the nominative ends in -ai / -iai (masculine: vyrai, broliai) and -os / -ės (feminine: knygos, gatvės).

04

Naming and Labelling

The nominative is also the form you use to simply name a thing - on a sign, in a list, or when pointing something out:

• Čia knyga.

  Here is a book.

• Kas tai? Stalas.

  What is this? A table.

05

Plural Subjects

A plural subject simply takes the nominative plural, and the verb's third-person form does not change for number:

• Vaikai žaidžia.

  The children are playing.

• Studentai mokosi.

  The students are studying.

06

What Describes the Subject Agrees

An adjective or pronoun describing a nominative subject is itself in the nominative, matching the subject's gender and number:

• Naujas namas gražus.

  The new house is beautiful.

• Tai geri draugai.

  These are good friends.

07

The Form to Learn First

Every other case is, in a sense, a change away from this nominative form. So when you meet a new noun, the nominative is the one to fix in memory first - and, with its tell-tale ending, it hands you the gender for free.