Questions & Answers about Brauðið er heitt.
Icelandic puts the definite article on the end of the noun. Here, brauð (bread) + the neuter definite ending -ið gives brauðið = “the bread.”
- Masculine: -inn (e.g., hestur → hesturinn)
- Feminine: -in (e.g., bók → bókin)
- Neuter: -ið (e.g., brauð → brauðið)
Because brauð is a neuter noun. After the verb er (is), adjectives are in the nominative and agree in gender and number with the subject:
- Masculine: heitur
- Feminine: heit
- Neuter: heitt So: Brauðið (neuter singular) er heitt.
No. Predicate adjectives (after er, “to be”) take the strong endings, even if the subject is definite: Brauðið er heitt.
Weak endings appear when the adjective directly modifies a definite noun: hita brauðið = “the hot bread” (weak neuter singular: hita).
Be careful. Heita can be:
- The verb “to be called/named” (e.g., Ég heiti… = “My name is…”).
- The weak adjective form meaning “hot” when used attributively with a definite noun (e.g., hita brauðið = “the hot bread”). In our sentence (predicate position), you must use the strong form heitt.
Er is “is,” from að vera (to be). Present tense:
- ég er
- þú ert
- hann/hún/það er
- við erum
- þið eruð
- þeir/þær/þau eru
Invert subject and verb: Er brauðið heitt? = “Is the bread hot?”
Short answers: Já, það er heitt. / Nei, það er ekki heitt.
Brauð is neuter. In this sentence it’s nominative singular (subject). Common forms:
- Nom/Acc sg: brauð
- Gen sg: brauðs
- Dat sg: brauði
- Nom/Acc pl (when used for loaves/kinds): brauð
- Definite sg: brauðið
- Definite pl: brauðin
Brauðin eru heit.
Explanation: brauðin (definite neuter plural), eru (plural “are”), and the neuter plural strong adjective is heit.
Þetta brauð er heitt.
Þetta is the neuter singular demonstrative “this,” agreeing with neuter brauð.
Approximate: “BROY-th-ith air HEIGHT”
Tips:
- au in brauð ≈ a rounded “oy” sound.
- ð is like the “th” in this; word-final ð often sounds closer to the “th” in thing.
- er sounds like “air” (with a trilled/flapped r).
- tt in heitt is pre-aspirated; you’ll hear a breathy h before t: “heiht.”
- ð (eth) is the voiced “th” as in this (often devoiced at the end of a word).
- þ (thorn) is the voiceless “th” as in thing. In our sentence you only see ð.
Neutral order is Subject–Verb–Complement: Brauðið er heitt.
You can front the complement for emphasis or style: Heitt er brauðið, but that’s marked (poetic/emphatic) and not the default in everyday speech.
- heitt primarily means physically hot.
- “Warm” is more like hlýtt (general warmth) or volgt (lukewarm).
- For figurative “hot” (fashionable/sexy), context matters; Icelandic often uses other words (e.g., sexý, or idioms). Heitur can be figurative in some contexts (e.g., a “hot topic”), but be cautious.
- Very hot: Brauðið er mjög heitt.
- Too hot: Brauðið er of heitt.
- Still hot: Brauðið er enn heitt.
- Already hot: Brauðið er þegar heitt. (also heard: nú þegar heitt)