Skoðunarstofan er opin.

The vehicle inspection station is open.

Breakdown of Skoðunarstofan er opin.

• vera: to be
• opinn: open
• skoðunarstofan: the vehicle inspection station

Questions & Answers about Skoðunarstofan er opin.

Why does skoðunarstofan end in -an?

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• skoðunarstofa = an inspection/examination room or office
• skoðunarstofan = the inspection/examination room or office

Here -an is the feminine singular nominative definite ending. The base noun stofa is feminine, so its definite form is stofan.

Is skoðunarstofan one word? What is the -ar- in the middle doing?

Yes, it is one compound word, which is very common in Icelandic.

It breaks down like this:

• skoðun = inspection, examination
• skoðunar- = genitive form, used here as a linking first element
• stofa = room, office, clinic

So skoðunarstofa is literally something like inspection-room or examination-office.

The -ar comes from the genitive singular of skoðun. Icelandic often uses this kind of genitive form inside compounds.

What does er mean here?