Questions & Answers about Miðinn var gildur í gær.
Why is it miðinn and not miði?
Miði is the basic form, meaning ticket.
Miðinn means the ticket.
Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.
- miði = a ticket
- miðinn = the ticket
So Miðinn var gildur í gær starts with the ticket, not just ticket.
What case is miðinn, and why?
Miðinn is in the nominative singular.
That is because it is the subject of the sentence: it is the thing being described. The sentence is saying something about the ticket, namely that it was valid yesterday.
With vera (to be), the subject normally stays in the nominative:
- Miðinn var gildur = The ticket was valid
What is var?
Var is the past tense of vera, which means to be.
In this sentence, it means was.
A few useful forms are:
- ég var = I was
- þú varst = you were
- hann / hún / það var = he / she / it was
Since miðinn is a third-person singular subject, var is the correct form.