Questions & Answers about Miðinn kostar ekki mikið.
In Icelandic the definite article is not a separate word but a suffix.
- miðinn = miði (ticket) + -inn (the) = “the ticket.”
To say “a ticket,” use the indefinite nominative singular miði.
miðinn is masculine, nominative singular.
- It’s the subject of the verb kostar (“costs”), so it stands in the nominative.
- The -inn ending signals both definiteness and that it’s singular.
The infinitive is að kosta (“to cost”).
kostar is the present tense, 3rd person singular form:
- ég kosta (I cost)
- þú kastar (you cost)
- hann/hún/það kostar (he/she/it costs)
In Icelandic main clauses, the negation ekki normally follows the finite verb.
Word order here is: Subject – Verb – ekki – Adverbial.
Putting ekki before kostar (e.g. ekki kostar miðinn) would sound ungrammatical.
Here mikið is an adverb meaning “much.”
- As an adverb it is indeclinable (it does not take gender, number, or case endings).
- If you used mikill as an adjective (e.g. modifying a noun), it would change (mikill/mikil/mikið etc.).
Yes, you can talk about something being expensive rather than costing much. Examples:
- Miðinn er ekki dýr. (“The ticket is not expensive.”)
- Miðinn er ekki mjög dýr. (“The ticket isn’t very expensive.”)
But when talking about price, kostar ekki mikið is by far the more natural expression.
Use the question word hvað (“what/how much”) plus the verb and subject:
Hvað kostar miðinn?
Literally: “What costs the ticket?” → “How much does the ticket cost?”
You can simply replace ekki mikið with the actual amount, e.g.:
Miðinn kostar fimm hundruð krónur.
(“The ticket costs five hundred krónur.”)