Veitingastaðurinn er opinn í dag.

The restaurant is open today.

Breakdown of Veitingastaðurinn er opinn í dag.

• vera: to be
• dagurinn: the day
• í: to
• opinn: open

Questions & Answers about Veitingastaðurinn er opinn í dag.

What is the meaning and structure of veitingastaðurinn?

veitingastaðurinn is the definite form of veitingastaður, which means “restaurant.”

• veitinga- comes from veita (“to serve”)
• staður means “place”
• the suffix -inn marks the noun as definite: “the restaurant”

Why doesn’t Icelandic use a separate word for “the”?

Icelandic attaches the definite article as a suffix to nouns. Instead of saying “the restaurant”, you say veitingastaðurinn (“restaurant-the”).

What gender is veitingastaðurinn, and how do you know?

It’s masculine. You can tell because:

1. The noun ends in -ur in its indefinite form (veitingastaður)
2. The adjective opinn uses the masculine nominative singular ending -inn

Why is the adjective opinn not preceded by a separate article?

Adjectives agree with definite nouns by inflecting themselves, rather than by adding an article. Since veitingastaðurinn is definite, opinn takes the masculine nominative singular form to match it.

How do you decline opinn for different genders and numbers?