ðə dᵻɹˈɛkt kˈeɪs ɪz ˈɔfən ˌɪmpɹɪsˈaɪsli kˈɔːld ðə "nˈɑːmɪnətˌɪv" ɪn sˈaʊθ ˈeɪʒə ænd "ˈæbsəlˌuːɾɪv" ɪnðə fˈɪlᵻpˌiːnz, bˌʌt lˈɪŋɡwɪsts tˈɪpɪkli ɹɪzˈɜːv ðoʊz tˈɜːmz fɔːɹ ɡɹɐmˈæɾɪkəl kˈeɪsᵻz ðæt hæv ɐ nˈæɹoʊɚ skˈoʊp.
The direct case is often imprecisely called the "nominative" in South Asia and "absolutive" in the Philippines, but linguists typically reserve those terms for grammatical cases that have a narrower scope.