Ferðin var frábær.

The trip was great.

Breakdown of Ferðin var frábær.

• vera: to be
• frábær: great
• ferðin: the trip

Questions & Answers about Ferðin var frábær.

What are the roles of each word in the sentence?

• Ferðin: the subject, meaning “the trip,” in definite form.
• var: the past tense of vera (“to be”), 3rd person singular (“was”).
• frábær: a predicate adjective (“great/excellent”) describing the subject.

Why does Ferðin end with -in instead of using a separate word for “the”?

Icelandic usually puts the definite article on the end of the noun. So:

• Indefinite: ferð (trip)
• Definite: ferðin (the trip) At the start of a sentence it’s capitalized: Ferðin. Icelandic does have a separate article hinn/hin/hið, but it’s used differently (mostly with adjectives: e.g., hin frábæra ferð).

What case, number, and gender is Ferðin here?

• Case: Nominative (it’s the subject of a “to be” sentence)
• Number: Singular
• Gender: Feminine (the noun ferð is feminine)

Why is it frábær and not frábært or frábæra?