Maturinn var frábær í gær.

The food was great yesterday.

Breakdown of Maturinn var frábær í gær.

• vera: to be
• maturinn: the food
• í gær: yesterday
• frábær: great

Questions & Answers about Maturinn var frábær í gær.

Why is there no separate word for the before Maturinn?

In Icelandic the definite article attaches to the noun as a suffix.
Matur gives you food in the indefinite sense. To say the food you add -inn to get Maturinn. There is no separate word like English the.

Why is the noun spelled Maturinn and not Matinn?

The dictionary form (lemma) of Maturinn is matur (a strong masculine noun). In the indefinite nominative singular it ends in -ur, so when you add the definite suffix -inn, you get:
• matur + inn = maturinn
You cannot drop the -ur before adding the article.

What is the gender, number, and case of Maturinn?

It is:
– Gender: masculine
– Number: singular
– Case: nominative
– Definiteness: definite (because of -inn)
As the subject of the verb var, it must be in the nominative case.

What is var, and why do we use it here?

Var is the past tense, 1st or 3rd person singular of the verb vera (to be). In English it corresponds to .Conjugation in past (singular): • ég var → I was • hann/hún var → he/she was