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Questions & Answers about Veðrið verður kalt.
What does Veðrið mean and why does it end with -ið?
Veðrið means “the weather.” In Icelandic, neuter (and masculine) nouns take the definite article as a suffix. The indefinite form is veður (“weather”), and adding -ið makes it definite: veðrið = “the weather.”
Is verður a future-tense verb like English “will”?
Icelandic has no separate future tense. Instead, the present of verða (“to become”) can express future in contexts like this. Here verður (3rd person singular) literally means “becomes,” so Veðrið verður kalt = “The weather becomes cold,” i.e. “The weather will be cold.”
Why is the adjective kalt unchanged instead of költ or kalla?
Adjectives used predicatively (after a verb like verður) take the strong declension and must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun. Veðrið is neuter singular nominative, so the strong neuter nominative of kaldur (“cold”) is kalt.
Could I say “Veðrið verður kaltur”?
No. Kaltur is the masculine form of kaldur. Since veðrið is neuter, you must use the neuter form kalt.
How do you turn this into a question: “Will the weather be cold?”
You invert the verb and the subject (Icelandic is V2). So you ask:
Verður veðrið kalt?
— literally “Becomes the weather cold?”
Can you use mun + infinitive to express the future instead?
Yes. You can say Mun veðrið vera kalt?, literally “Will the weather be cold?” However, with adjectives it’s more common to use verður + adjective than mun + vera.
Why doesn’t Icelandic use an auxiliary like “to be” for future (e.g., will be cold)?
Icelandic doesn’t have a separate future auxiliary. For simple future statements with adjectives, using verða (“to become”) in present is the standard way. If you really want an infinitive construction you’d use mun + vera (“will be”), but that’s less idiomatic here.