The nominative — ονομαστική — is where every Greek noun starts. It is the form you find in the dictionary, the form you learn vocabulary in, and grammatically it is the case of the subject: the person or thing that the verb is about. This is the easiest case to understand and the easiest to use correctly, which makes it the right place to build the habit that the rest of the case system depends on — noticing, before you write a noun, what job it is doing in the sentence.
The subject: who or what does the action
Ask Ποιος; ("Who?") or Τι; ("What?") of the verb, and the answer is the nominative.
Ο Γιάννης διαβάζει για τις εξετάσεις όλο το σαββατοκύριακο.
o Yánis dhiavázi ya tis eksetásis ólo to savatokíriako
Yannis has been studying for his exams all weekend.
Η γάτα κοιμάται πάνω στο πληκτρολόγιο, πάλι.
i gháta kimáte páno sto pliktrolóyio, páli
The cat is asleep on the keyboard, again.
Τα παιδιά έφαγαν όλη την τούρτα πριν έρθουμε.
ta pedhiá éfaghan óli tin túrta prin érthume
The kids ate the whole cake before we arrived.
In each one, the nominative article gives it away instantly: ο Γιάννης, η γάτα, τα παιδιά. Everything else in the sentence is in some other case.
Nominative against accusative: the same nouns, opposite jobs
The clearest way to feel what the nominative is doing is to watch a noun swap roles. Both sentences below use ο σκύλος (the dog) and ο ταχυδρόμος (the postman); only the cases move.
Ο σκύλος δάγκωσε τον ταχυδρόμο.
o skílos dhángose ton tachidhrómo
The dog bit the postman.
Ο ταχυδρόμος δάγκωσε τον σκύλο.
o tachidhrómos dhángose ton skílo
The postman bit the dog.
| Noun | Nominative (subject) | Accusative (object) |
|---|---|---|
| dog | ο σκύλος | τον σκύλο |
| postman | ο ταχυδρόμος | τον ταχυδρόμο |
| friend | ο φίλος | τον φίλο |
Two signals change together: the article (ο → τον) and the ending (-ος → -ο). Notice that the tell-tale -ς belongs to the nominative singular; the accusative singular drops it. That single letter is doing in Greek roughly what the difference between he and him does in English. More on the object side at Accusative: the direct object.
The subject often isn't there at all
Here is the first genuinely un-English thing about Greek subjects: you usually leave them out. The verb ending already states the person and number, so a separate pronoun would be redundant.
| Person | Verb | English needs a pronoun |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | διαβάζω | I read |
| 2nd sg. | διαβάζεις | you read |
| 3rd sg. | διαβάζει | he/she/it reads |
| 1st pl. | διαβάζουμε | we read |
| 2nd pl. | διαβάζετε | you read |
| 3rd pl. | διαβάζουν | they read |
Six distinct endings means six unambiguous subjects, so the pronouns εγώ, εσύ, αυτός… are simply not needed for the grammar to work.
Πού πας τέτοια ώρα;
pu pas tétia óra;
Where are you off to at this hour?
Δεν καταλαβαίνω τίποτα απ' όσα λέει.
dhen katalavéno típota ap' ósa léi
I don't understand a thing he's saying.
So when do you use εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, εμείς? Only when you want contrast or emphasis — the equivalent of stressing the pronoun in English.
Εγώ πληρώνω σήμερα, εσύ πλήρωσες την προηγούμενη φορά.
eghó pliróno símera, esí plíroses tin proighúmeni forá
I'm paying today — you paid last time.
Using εγώ in every sentence is the most audible marker of a foreign speaker at A1–A2 level: it is not ungrammatical, it just makes you sound like you are constantly insisting on yourself. Full treatment on Dropping the subject.
The subject doesn't have to come first
Because the nominative marks the subject wherever it stands, Greek moves it around freely. Verb–subject order is entirely normal, especially when the subject is new information or the verb is one of appearing, arriving or existing.
Ήρθε ο Νίκος και έφερε παγωτό.
írthe o Níkos ke éfere paghotó
Nikos turned up, and he brought ice cream.
Χτύπησε το τηλέφωνο τρεις φορές και δεν το άκουσα.
chtípise to tiléfono tris forés ke dhen to ákusa
The phone rang three times and I didn't hear it.
An English speaker reads Ήρθε ο Νίκος and reflexively takes the first word for the subject, because English puts the subject first — and then stalls, because the first word here is a verb. Retrain that reflex: in Greek, look for the nominative article, not for the first noun. Ο Νίκος is nominative, therefore Ο Νίκος is the subject, whatever its position.
Agreement: the verb must match
The subject and its verb agree in person and number. This is familiar from English (he walks vs they walk), but Greek marks it on every verb in every tense, so there is nowhere to hide.
Οι γείτονες φεύγουν για διακοπές την Παρασκευή.
i yítones févghun ya dhiakopés tin Paraskeví
The neighbours are going away on holiday on Friday.
Ο αδερφός μου και η γυναίκα του μένουν στη Θεσσαλονίκη.
o adherfós mu ke i yinéka tu ménun sti Thesaloníki
My brother and his wife live in Thessaloniki.
Two singular subjects joined by και make a plural, exactly as in English — μένουν, not ×μένει.
One historical note worth knowing if you have studied Ancient Greek: the ancient rule by which a neuter plural subject took a singular verb (τα παιδία παίζει) is dead. Modern Greek uses a plural verb: Τα παιδιά παίζουν. Don't import it.
When the English subject isn't the Greek subject
This is the point at which the nominative stops being trivial, and it is worth real attention because it affects some of the most common verbs in the language.
With μου αρέσει ("I like"), the thing liked is the nominative subject, and the person doing the liking is a genitive pronoun. The Greek sentence is built like the archaic English it pleases me.
Μου αρέσει πολύ αυτή η μουσική.
mu arési polí aftí i musikí
I really like this music.
Μου αρέσουν τα παλιά ελληνικά τραγούδια.
mu arésun ta paliá eliniká traghúdhia
I like old Greek songs.
Look at what changed: αρέσει → αρέσουν. The verb agreed with τα τραγούδια, because that is the subject. Μου never changes, because it is not the subject — it is the experiencer, in the genitive. The same architecture governs several everyday verbs:
| Greek | Nominative subject is… | English |
|---|---|---|
| μου αρέσει / μου αρέσουν | the thing liked | I like… |
| μου λείπει / μου λείπουν | the thing missed | I miss… |
| μου φαίνεται | the thing that seems | it seems to me… |
| μου πέφτει | the thing that falls | I drop… |
Μου λείπεις πάρα πολύ, να έρθεις σύντομα.
mu lípis pára polí, na érthis síndoma
I miss you so much — come soon.
That one is worth memorising as a whole phrase: μου λείπεις is literally "you are missing to me", with you as the subject inside the verb ending -εις. Getting it backwards produces σου λείπω, which means "you miss me" — a different and occasionally awkward statement.
Sentences with no subject at all
Some Greek verbs have no subject in any language sense — weather verbs and a handful of impersonals. They stand in the third person singular with nothing to agree with.
Βρέχει από το πρωί και δεν έχω ομπρέλα.
vréchi apó to proí ke dhen écho ombréla
It's been raining since this morning and I don't have an umbrella.
Πρέπει να φύγουμε τώρα, αλλιώς θα χάσουμε το πλοίο.
prépi na fíghume tóra, aliós tha chásume to plío
We have to leave now, otherwise we'll miss the boat.
Note that Greek has no dummy subject — no equivalent of the English it in it's raining or there in there is. Βρέχει is a complete sentence on its own. Inserting αυτό would be nonsense.
The nominative is the citation form
Finally, a practical point. When you look a noun up, learn it, or name it in isolation, it appears in the nominative singular with its article: ο δρόμος, η θάλασσα, το παιδί. That is also the form used for a label, a sign, a title or a list.
— Πώς λέγεται αυτό στα ελληνικά; — Το ψυγείο.
— pos léyete aftó sta eliniká; — to psiyío
— What's this called in Greek? — The fridge.
So when you memorise vocabulary, you are already memorising the nominative. The other three cases are built from it — which is exactly why every declension table in this guide starts there.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting the subject in the accusative. English speakers rarely do this from scratch, but they do it after fronting a phrase for emphasis.
❌ Τον Γιάννη δουλεύει στην τράπεζα.
Incorrect — the subject must be nominative: Ο Γιάννης.
✅ Ο Γιάννης δουλεύει στην τράπεζα.
o Yánis dhulévi stin trápeza
Yannis works at the bank.
2. Using a subject pronoun in every sentence. This is the one item on the list that is not an error. Both sentences below are perfectly grammatical Greek; the difference is frequency and force. Repeating εγώ makes every clause contrastive — as for me — so a learner who does it in ordinary narration sounds insistent, or as if arguing with someone who is not there.
Εγώ είμαι κουρασμένος και εγώ θέλω να κοιμηθώ.
eghó íme kurazménos ke eghó thélo na kimithó
I'm tired and I want to go to sleep. (over-emphatic — the repeated εγώ reads as a contrast with somebody else)
Είμαι κουρασμένος και θέλω να κοιμηθώ.
íme kurazménos ke thélo na kimithó
I'm tired and I want to go to sleep. (neutral — the default, and what you should say unless you mean the contrast)
3. Agreeing μου αρέσει with the person instead of the thing. The verb agrees with the nominative — the thing liked.
❌ Μου αρέσει τα λουλούδια που έφερες.
Incorrect — the subject τα λουλούδια is plural, so the verb must be αρέσουν.
✅ Μου αρέσουν τα λουλούδια που έφερες.
mu arésun ta lulúdhia pu éferes
I like the flowers you brought.
4. Dropping the -ς of the nominative singular. The -ς is the subject marker on masculine nouns.
❌ Ο δρόμο είναι κλειστός λόγω έργων.
Incorrect — the nominative keeps the -ς: ο δρόμος.
✅ Ο δρόμος είναι κλειστός λόγω έργων.
o dhrómos íne klistós lógho érghon
The road is closed because of roadworks.
5. Inventing a dummy subject for weather verbs. Greek has none.
❌ Αυτό βρέχει πολύ σήμερα.
Incorrect — no dummy subject exists; the verb stands alone.
✅ Βρέχει πολύ σήμερα.
vréchi polí símera
It's raining a lot today.
Key Takeaways
- The nominative marks the subject — the answer to Ποιος; / Τι; — and is the dictionary form of every noun.
- Subject and object are distinguished by article + ending: ο σκύλος (nom.) vs τον σκύλο (acc.); the -ς is a nominative-singular marker.
- Greek is pro-drop: the verb ending carries the person, so subject pronouns appear only for contrast or emphasis.
- The subject can stand after the verb (Ήρθε ο Νίκος) with no loss of clarity — look for the nominative article, not the first noun.
- The verb agrees with the subject in person and number; neuter plural subjects take a plural verb in Modern Greek.
- With μου αρέσει, μου λείπει, μου φαίνεται, the nominative subject is the thing, not the person — so the verb changes number with the thing (μου αρέσουν).
- Weather and impersonal verbs have no subject and no dummy pronoun: Βρέχει, Πρέπει.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Nominative: Predicate and NamingA2 — Why both sides of είμαι share the nominative — Ο Γιάννης είναι δάσκαλος, Εγώ είμαι — how γίνομαι, φαίνομαι and μένω behave the same way, why Greek says Είναι γιατρός with no article, and the neat reason Με λένε Γιάννη is accusative instead.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative is the case of the thing the verb acts on — Βλέπω τον Γιάννη, Τρώω το μήλο — marked by the article (ο→τον, η→την, οι→τους/τις) rather than by position, which is exactly why Greek word order can move around so freely.