Questions & Answers about Vegurinn er langur og beinn.
What does vegurinn mean, and why does it end with -inn?
vegurinn is made up of vegur (road) + the definite-article suffix -inn, so it literally means “the road.” Icelandic has no separate word for “the” in this context; it’s attached to the noun.
What case, gender and number is vegurinn in?
It’s masculine, nominative, singular. The nominative case is used because vegurinn is the subject of the sentence.
Why do langur and beinn both end in -ur?
They are predicative adjectives describing a masculine noun in nominative singular. In predicate position (after a form of er), adjectives follow the strong declension, and the masculine nominative singular ending in that declension is -ur.
Why don’t the adjectives take the weak endings (like langi or beini) to match the definite noun?
Weak endings appear when adjectives are attributive (placed directly before a definite noun). Here, langur and beinn are predicative (they follow er), so they stick to the strong declension regardless of the noun’s definiteness.
How would you say in Icelandic?