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Questions & Answers about Brúðkaupið er á morgun.
Why is it brúðkaupið and not just brúðkaup?
Brúðkaup means a wedding (indefinite).
In Icelandic, the definite article (the) is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front, like in English.
- brúðkaup = a wedding
- brúðkaupið = the wedding
The ending -ið is the neuter singular definite ending in the nominative case.
So brúðkaupið literally means “the wedding”.
What gender is brúðkaup, and how does that affect the ending -ið?
Brúðkaup is a neuter noun.
For neuter nouns in the nominative singular:
- Indefinite form: just the base word
- brúðkaup (a wedding)
- Definite form: add -ið
- brúðkaupið (the wedding)
So the fact that brúðkaup is neuter is exactly why the definite ending is -ið and not something like -inn or -in.
Why is there no separate word for “the” in the sentence?