Glerumbúðirnar eru hreinar.

The glass packaging is clean.

Breakdown of Glerumbúðirnar eru hreinar.

• vera: to be
• hreint: clean
• glerumbúðirnar: the glass packaging

Questions & Answers about Glerumbúðirnar eru hreinar.

Why is glerumbúðirnar written as one word?

Because Icelandic uses compounds very freely.

glerumbúðirnar can be broken down like this:

• gler = glass
• umbúðir = packaging, wrappings, containers
• -nar = the definite article ending here

So Icelandic packs the whole idea into one compound noun instead of writing separate words the way English often does.

Where is the word for the?

It is attached to the noun.

In Icelandic, the is very often a suffix rather than a separate word. In glerumbúðirnar, the ending -nar means the.

So:

• glerumbúðir = glass packaging / glass containers
• glerumbúðirnar = the glass packaging / the glass containers

Why is the verb eru and not er?

Because the subject is plural.

• er = is
• eru = are

Here, glerumbúðirnar is grammatically plural, so Icelandic uses eru.

That is true even if English might sometimes use a singular-looking translation such as the packaging is clean. Icelandic still treats umbúðir as plural in this sentence.