Nominative Case / प्रथमा विभक्ति (prathamaa vibhakti): Nominative Case or प्रथमा विभक्ति (prathamaa vibhakti) represents the noun-form to represent the "who" or "what" on the verb in the sentence. In other words nominative case represents the subject or कर्ता (kartaa) of the sentence.
Study the following sentences. These are in nominative case. In the previous chapters we
have already come across these sentence formations. These are mentioned again for completness.
| आङ्ग्लभाषा / English | संस्कृत / Sanskrit | Notes |
|---|
| 1. The boy is going. | बालः गच्छति
baalaH gachchhati | - |
| 2. Poet is writing. | कविः लिखति
kaviH likhati | - |
| 3. Teachers are speaking. | गुरवः वदन्ति
guravaH vadanti | - |
| 4. Girl is reading. | बाला पठति
baalaa paThati | - |
| 5. River is flowing. | नदी वहति
nadii vahati | - |
| 6. I am asking. | अहं पृच्छामि
aha.n pRRichchhaami | - |
| 7. Sita is singing. | सीता गायति
siitaa gaayati | - |
| 8. Fruit is falling. | फलं पतति
phala.n patati | Words like - fruit (फल / phala), vehicle (यान / yaana), book (पुस्तक / pustaka), water (जल / jala) and flower (पुष्प / puShpa) etc., are of neuter gender. They have the same noun-form or shabdarupa as boy (बाल / baala) except the nominative and accusative cases which have slightly different forms.
Refer फल (phala) shabda below for the nominative case forms of these. |
| 9. Vehicle is moving. | यानं चलति
yaana.n chalati |
| 10. The book is there. | पुस्तकम् अस्ति
pustakam asti |
| 11. There is no water. | जलं नास्ति
jala.n naasti |
| 12. Flower is blooming. | पुष्पं विकसति
puShpa.n vikasati |
In sentence 1 above, if we ask the question "who is going?", the answer that comes is "boy". So, boy is the subject in the sentence and the noun-form is in nominative case or prathamaa vibhakti. Similarly in sentence 8, if we ask the question "what is falling?", the answer that comes
is "fruit". In this fruit is the subject.
So, answer to the question "who" or "what" is the subject of the sentence and is always in nominative case.
The verb form follows the number or वचन (vachana) of the noun. The followings are few rules where the nominative case
must be used as the noun-form.
Grammatical Rule
In active voice statements the subject in the sentence is always in nominative case.
Grammatical Rule
In passive voice statements the object follows the nominative case. The subject follows the instrumental case.
| Nominative Case (प्रथमा विभक्ति / prathamaa vibhakti) |
|---|
Word
शब्द | Gender
लिङ्ग | Singular
एकवचन | Dual
द्विवचन | Plural
बहुवचन | Similar Words |
|---|
Boy
बाल / baala | M - पुं | बालः
baalah | बालौ
baalau | बालाः
baalaaH | - |
Creeper
लता / lataa | F - स्त्री | लता
lataa | लते
late | लताः
lataaH | - |
River
नदी / nadii | F - स्त्री | नदी
nadii | नद्यौ
nadau | नद्यः
nadyaH | - |
Fruit
फलम् / phalam | N - नपुं | फलम्
phalam | फले
phale | फलानि
phalaani | - |