Skattskyldan og samsköttunin eru skýrar.

to be

Breakdown of Skattskyldan og samsköttunin eru skýrar.

• og: and
• skýr: clear
• skattskyldan: the tax liability

Questions & Answers about Skattskyldan og samsköttunin eru skýrar.

Why does the sentence use eru and not er?

Because the subject is plural overall.

Even though skattskyldan and samsköttunin are each singular by themselves, they are joined by og (and), so together they form a plural subject:

• skattskyldan = the tax liability
• samsköttunin = the joint taxation
• skattskyldan og samsköttunin = the tax liability and the joint taxation

So Icelandic uses the plural form of vera (to be):

• er = is
• eru = are

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Why is skýrar plural?

Because it agrees with the two nouns joined by og.

In Icelandic, adjectives usually agree with the noun or nouns they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, the adjective is describing two things, so it must be plural. Since both nouns are feminine, the adjective is in the feminine plural nominative form:

• skýr = clear
• skýrar = clear, feminine plural

So:

• Skattskyldan og samsköttunin eru skýrar
  = The tax liability and the joint taxation are clear.

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