Passinn er enn gildur.

to be

Breakdown of Passinn er enn gildur.

• passinn: the passport
• enn: still
• gildur: valid

Questions & Answers about Passinn er enn gildur.

What is passinn made of?

Passinn = passi + -inn.

• passi is the noun
• -inn is the suffixed definite article, meaning the

So passinn means the passport / the pass.

A very common Icelandic pattern is that the is attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

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Why isn’t there a separate word for the?

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article onto the noun itself.

So instead of:

• the passport

you often get:

• passinn = passport-the

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice in Icelandic.

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What case is passinn, and why?

Here, passinn is in the nominative singular.

That is because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing being talked about.

The basic idea is:

• Passinn = the subject
• er = is
• enn gildur = still valid

So nominative is exactly what you would expect here.

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