Kennslustundin var ekki leiðinleg síðasta mánudag.

The lesson was not boring last Monday.

Breakdown of Kennslustundin var ekki leiðinleg síðasta mánudag.

• vera: to be
• ekki: not
• kennslustundin: the lesson
• leiðinlegur: boring
• síðastur: last

Questions & Answers about Kennslustundin var ekki leiðinleg síðasta mánudag.

What does kennslustundin mean, and why does it end in -in?

kennslustundin translates as “the lesson” (literally “the teaching session”). In Icelandic the definite article is not a separate word but a suffix on the noun. Here kennslustund is “teaching session/lesson,” and -in is the definite-article ending for feminine singular nouns in the nominative case.

Why is the verb var used instead of er?

var is the past‐tense form of vera (“to be”). Since the sentence refers to something that happened last Monday, you use the past tense var (“was”), not the present tense er (“is”).

Where does the negation ekki go, and why is it placed after the verb?

In Icelandic, the negative adverb ekki normally follows the finite verb it negates. So “was not” is var ekki, with ekki directly after var.

Why does leiðinleg end in -g rather than -ur or -t?

leiðinleg is the nominative feminine singular strong form of the adjective leiðinlegur (“boring”). It must agree with kennslustundin (which is feminine, nominative, singular). In the strong (predicative) declension, the nominative feminine singular ending is - (no extra vowel), so you get leiðinleg.

Why is there no preposition before síðasta mánudag?

When you state a specific day of the week as a pure time adverbial, Icelandic often omits the preposition á. The phrase síðasta mánudag (accusative of time) simply means “last Monday.”

What case is síðasta mánudag, and why is síðasta in that form?

As a temporal adverbial, síðasta mánudag is in the accusative. The noun mánudagur (“Monday”) takes - (no ending) in the accusative, and the adjective síðasti (“last”) in strong declension, accusative masculine singular is síðasta. Hence síðasta mánudag = “last Monday.”

Could you place the time expression at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible. If you want to emphasize the time, you can say:
• Síðasta mánudag var kennslustundin ekki leiðinleg.
This puts “last Monday” up front, shifting focus onto when it happened.

How would you say “The lesson was very boring last Monday” instead?

Drop the negation ekki and add the intensifier mjög (“very”) before the adjective:
• Kennslustundin var mjög leiðinleg síðasta mánudag.