The term "nominative" refers to a grammatical case used to indicate the subject of a verb in a sentence. In languages like Latin and German, the nominative case is essential for identifying who or what is performing the action. For example, in the sentence "The dog barks," "the dog" is in the nominative case because it is the subject. In English, the nominative case is often represented by pronouns such as I, he, she, and they. These pronouns change form in different cases, but the nominative case specifically highlights the subject role. Understanding the nominative case helps clarify sentence structure and meaning.