Case nominative

Summary

In Koiné Greek, the nominative case ending usually indicates the subject of the sentence. However, the nominative case ending can also indicate a predicate nominative or predicate adjective.

Article

In Koiné Greek, the nominative case ending indicates the subject of a sentence. Any adjectives or participles that describe the subject of the sentence also take the nominative case ending. In a sentence with a linking verb, the nominative case ending can indicate the predicate nominative or predicate adjective.

The nominative case ending is the standard form used for dictionary entries in a Greek lexicon.

Form

The nominative case is formed by adding the nominative case ending to the stem of a word (often with a connecting vowel).

Nominative Case Ending
	First and Second Declension				Third Declencion
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine/Feminine	Neuter
Singular
Nominative	ς	-	ν		ς	-
Plural
Nominative	ι	ι	α		ες	α

Note:

• The hyphen (-) indicates there is no case ending for feminine singular first and second declension nouns.

• There is no case ending for third declension neuter singular nouns, but the final stem letter may undergo changes.

See NounParadigm for a complete listing of the noun paradigms and AdjectiveParadigm for the adjective paradigms.

Indicates the subject of a sentence

The primary use of the nominative case ending is to identify the subject of the sentence. When the subject is paired with the definite article, the definite article will also take the nominative case ending.

John 11:35
ἐδάκρυσεν	ὁ	Ἰησοῦς
edakrysen	ho	Iēsous
he wept	the	Jesus
Jesus wept.

John 3:35
ὁ	Πατὴρ	ἀγαπᾷ	τὸν	Υἱόν
ho	Patēr	agapa	ton	huion
the	Father	he loves	the	Son
The Father loves the Son.

When an adjective or participle functions as the subject of the sentence, it will take the nominative case ending.

Romans 1:17
ὁ	δὲ	δίκαιος	ἐκ	πίστεως	ζήσεται.
ho	de	dikaios	ek	pisteōs	zēsetai.
the	indeed	righteous	by	faith	he will live.
*But	the* righteous will live by faith.

Any adjectives or participles that describe the subject of a sentence will also take the nominative case ending. This is because adjectives and participles must agree with the term that they describe in case as well as gender and number. In the example below, the adjective (καλός) and the noun (ποιμὴν) both take the nominative case ending.

John 10:11
ὁ	ποιμὴν	ὁ	καλὸς	τὴν	ψυχὴν	αὐτοῦ	τίθησιν	ὑπὲρ	τῶν	προβάτων
ho	poimēn	ho	kalos	tēn	psychēn	autou	tithēsin	hyper	tōn	probatōn
the	shepherd	the	good	the	life	of him	he lays down	in behalf of	the	sheep
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In the example below, the participle (βλέπων) and the noun (Πατήρ) both take the nominative case ending.

Matthew 6:6
ὁ	Πατήρ	σου	ὁ	βλέπων	ἐν	τῷ	κρυπτῷ	ἀποδώσει	σοι.
ho	patēr	sou	ho	blepōn	en	tō	kryptō	apodōsei	soi.
the	Father	of you	who	is seeing	in	the	secret	he will reward	to you
your Father who sees in secret will reward you

Sometimes a writer may not intend to form a complete sentence. This may occur in titles, headings, the greeting of a letter, or when a writer wishes to express strong emotion. In cases like these, there is often a subject to the sentence fragment but no predicate and no verb. The subject of these kinds of sentence fragments will take the nominative case ending.

Jude 1
Ἰούδας	Ἰησοῦ	Χριστοῦ	δοῦλος	ἀδελφὸς	δὲ	Ἰακώβου
Ioudas	Iēsou	Christou	doulos	adelphos	de	Iakōbou
Jude	of Jesus	of Christ	a slave	brother	and	of James
Jude	*a servant of Jesus Christ	and brother of James*

Romans 11:33
ὦ	βάθος	πλούτου	καὶ	σοφίας	καὶ	γνώσεως	Θεοῦ
ō	bathos	ploutou	kai	sophias	kai	gnōseōs	theou
Oh	depth	of riches	both	of wisdom	and	of knowledge	of God.
Oh	the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

Indicates a predicate nominative or predicate adjective

Sentences with linking verbs (such as εἰμί, γίνομαι, and ὑπάρχω) do not take a typical predicate containing an active verb with a direct object, etc. When a linking verb requires a predicate, that predicate will contain some kind of predicate nominative (either a noun or a participle functioning as a noun) or predicate adjective (either an adjective or a participle functioning as an adjective). In these cases, the predicate nominative or predicate adjective will take the nominative case ending.

Unlike in English, a linking verb in Koiné Greek can be implied and not explicitly stated.

are completed with an object in nominative case. The Nominative-Predicate (also referred to as Predicate Nominative) construction can take different forms but consists of a subject + a linking verb + an object in the nominative case. [The linking verb may be implied and not actually present in the text.]

Note

Use caution when translating sentences with predicate nominatives. It is often difficult to tell which term is the subject and which term is the predicate nominative, but they are not the same thing. They must be distinguished from one another.Care must be used in the translation of a Nominative-Predicate because the object may not be in the last position and is often not an exact equivalent of the subject. Koiné Greek does not use position to distinguish between the subject and the predicate nominative. The predicate nominative may appear either before or after the subject. The predicate nNominative is generally the larger class of objects, while the subject is the smaller class.

Indicates apposition

In Koiné Greek, the nominative case ending can be used to indicate a term that is in apposition to another word (usually a noun). It functions very much like an adjective, except it is usually not an adjective, but a noun instead. “Apposition” is the term used when a noun describes (or gives more information about) another noun. Appositions can be translated into English a variety of different ways, depending on the specific context. Some common ways of translating an apposition into English include “who is,” “which is,” “namely,” a simple comma, or sometimes not translated at all. In the example below, the terms ὁ μάρτυς and ὁ προτότοκος both take the nominative case ending and are in apposition to Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ (even though Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ takes the genitive case ending). The apposition indicates that Jesus Christ is the person whom the writer indicates is the faithful witness and the firstborn from the dead.

Revelation 1:5
καὶ	ἀπὸ	Ἰησοῦ	Χριστοῦ	ὁ	μάρτυς	ὁ	πιστός	ὁ	πρωτότοκος	τῶν	νεκρῶν…
kai	apo	Iēsou	Christou	ho	martys	ho	pistos	ho	prōtotokos	tōn	nekrōn…
and	from	Jesus	Christ	the	witness	the	faithful	the	firstborn	from the	dead…
*and from Jesus Christ	the faithful* witness	the firstborn from the dead…

Consider the sentence, “Paul is a man.”

“Paul” is the subject and “man” is the Nominative-Predicate. The translator must be careful to first understand the passage and then take equal care in the translation to make sure the reader understands that Paul is the subject and man is the Nominative-Predicate. English uses word order to indicate which word is the subject and which word is the Predicate Nominative. Therefore reversing the word order in English to say “a man is Paul” would lead the reader to think that all men are “Paul” which is not true. The more definite of the two words (or clauses) in the nominative case will be the subject of the sentence.

The following basic rules will help to clarify which word (or clause) is the subject of the sentence and which word (or clause) is the predicate nominative for the sentence in Koine Greek.

NOTE: In Koine Greek, the linking verb may be omitted entirely, and may have to be supplied by the reader (or translator) to complete the sentence. (an example of this will be given below.)

As stated above, the more definite of the two nominatives will be the subject of the sentence. Therefore…

1. if only one of the words in the nominative case is a pronoun, then the pronoun will be the subject. The pronoun may be included as a part of the verb.

Matthew 5:14
ὑμεῖς	ἐστε	τὸ	φῶς	τοῦ	κόσμου.
hymeis	este	to	phōs	tou	kosmou.
you	you are	the	light	of the	world.

You are the light of the world.

When Jesus spoke to the crowd and said “you”, they had a clear understanding of who the “you” was referring to. It was referring to them. “You” is the subject. “The light” is the predicate nominative.

Matthew 14:33
ἀληθῶς	Θεοῦ	Υἱὸς	εἶ
alēthōs	theou	huios	ei
truly	of God	Son	you are

Truly you are the Son of God.

In this sentence, the subject “you” is included in the verb εἶ. Υἱὸς is the predicate nominative.

2. If only one of the words in the nominative case is preceded with the article, the word with the article is the subject.

John 1:1
καὶ	Θεὸς	ἦν	ὁ	λόγος
kai	theos	ēn	ho	logos
and	God	was	the	word

and the Word was God

John 1:14
καὶ	ὁ	λόγος	σὰρξ	ἐγένετο
kai	ho	logos	sarx	egeneto
and	the	word	flesh	it became

The Word became flesh

3. If only one of the words in the nominative case is a proper name, the proper name will be the subject.

James 5:17
Ἠλείας	ἄνθρωπος	ἦν	ὁμοιοπαθὴς	ἡμῖν
Ēleias	anthrōpos	ēn	homoiopathēs	hemin
Elijah	a man	he was	like/or with a nature like	us

Elijah was a man just like us.

Notice that in this example both the subject (Ἠλείας) and the predicate nominative (ἂνθρςπος) come before the verb.

4) If one of the nouns in the nominative case is a pronoun and one is a proper name, the pronoun will be the subject and the proper name will be the predicate nominative.

Matthew 16:20
αὐτός	ἐστιν	ὁ	Χριστός
autos	estin	ho	Christos
he	he is	the	Christ

He is the Christ.

Matthew 11:14
αὐτός	ἐστιν	Ἠλείας
autos	estin	Ēleias
he	he is	Elijah

He is Elijah

5. If…

1. both have the article or

2. both are proper names or

3. one has the article and the other is a proper name,

…then the one that comes first is the subject.

John 15:1
ὁ	Πατήρ	μου	ὁ	γεωργός	ἐστιν.
ho	Patēr	mou	ho	geōrgos	estin
the	Father	my	the	farmer/gardener	he is

My Father is the gardener

6) Some times εις + accusative is used for the predicate nominative. This may occur with γίνομαι, εἰμί, or λογίζομαι. This portrays a process of something “changing into” something else. In English, it is translated with a predicate nominative and the εἰς is not translated. [D R A F T]

Mark 10:8
καὶ	ἔσονται	οἱ	δύο	**εἰς	σάρκα**	μίαν
kai	esontai	hoi	dyo	**eis	sarka**	mian
and	they will become	the	two		flesh	one

and the two will become one flesh