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This sentence corresponds to line 57 from chapter XIII of the 2003 edition of Lingua latina per se illustrata. Familia Romana:
Diēs mēnsis prīmus 'kalendae' nōminātur.
If the adjective primus is singular, diēs should be interpreted as a singular noun. But, if the word kalendae is plural, I cannot understand why diēs primus is singular. Shouldn't it be diēs primi instead?
In this sentence, "dies mensis primus" is one noun phrase, serving as the sentence's subject ("the first day of the month"), "nominatur" is the verb, and "kalendae" is what the first day of the month is called. Recurring days of the calendar are plurale tantum in Latin, so the name of the day happens to be plural, but this doesn't really affect the structure of the sentence.
As for why the verb is singular and not plural, even in English you would say "the first day of the month is called 'calends'", not *"the first day of the month are called 'calends'".
