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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 “a long and straight road” in Icelandic?
There is no indefinite article for singular nouns, so you simply say:
langur og beinn vegur
How would you say “the long and straight road” attributively (with adjectives before the noun)?
Use weak-declension adjectives plus the noun’s definite suffix:
langi og beini vegurinn
Here -i on langi and beini marks weak (definite) adjective forms in masculine nominative singular.
How do you form the comparative: “The road is longer and straighter”?
Use the comparative forms lengri (longer) and beinari (straighter):
vegurinn er lengri og beinari
How would you say “roads are long and straight” in both indefinite and definite plural?
Indefinite plural:
vegir eru langir og beinir
Definite plural (the roads):
vegirnir eru langir og beinir
How is vegurinn er langur og beinn pronounced?
Approximate English phonetics:
VEH-gur-rin er LAHNG-kur og BAYN
Stress is on the first syllable of each Icelandic word.
Can you swap or drop the og between adjectives, like “beinn og langur” or “langur, beinn”?
Yes, vegurinn er beinn og langur is grammatical—just a stylistic choice. Using a comma vegurinn er langur, beinn is unusual; coordinating adjectives normally use og in Icelandic.