Hótelið er fullt í kvöld.

to be

Breakdown of Hótelið er fullt í kvöld.

• fullur: full
• í kvöld: tonight
• hótelið: the hotel

Questions & Answers about Hótelið er fullt í kvöld.

What does the ending -ið in hótelið mean?

The ending -ið is the definite article attached to the noun.

• hótel = a hotel (indefinite)
• hótelið = the hotel (definite)

In Icelandic, the definite article (the) is usually added as a suffix to the noun instead of being a separate word like in English.

Because hótel is a neuter noun, its definite nominative singular form is hótelið (the hotel as the subject of the sentence).

Why is it fullt and not full or fullur?

The adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• The basic adjective is fullur = full
  
  • masculine: fullur
  • feminine: full
  • neuter: fullt

The noun hótel/hótelið is neuter singular nominative, so the adjective describing it must also be neuter singular nominative:

• Hótelið er fullt. = The hotel is full.

So:

• fullur – used with masculine nouns (e.g. bíllinn er fullur – the car is full)
• full – used with feminine or neuter plural (e.g. tuskurnar eru fullar, húsin eru full)
• fullt – used with neuter singular (like hótelið)

What gender is hótel, and how does that affect the sentence?

Hótel is a neuter noun in Icelandic.

That affects:

1. The definite article form

   • neuter: hótelið (the hotel)
   • contrast: masculine -inn, feminine -in (e.g. bíllinn, bókin)

2. Adjective agreement
   The adjective must match the noun:

   • Hótelið er fullt. – neuter → fullt
   • If it were masculine: Bíllinn er fullur.
   • If it were feminine: Taskan er full.

So the neuter gender of hótel is the reason we say hótelið and fullt in this sentence.

What case is hótelið in here, and why?

Hótelið is in the nominative case.

Reasons:

• It is the subject of the sentence: the hotel is what the sentence is about.
• With the verb vera (to be), the subject appears in the nominative, and any descriptive adjective (here fullt) also agrees in the nominative.

So in Hótelið er fullt í kvöld, we have:

• hótelið – nominative subject
• fullt – nominative adjective agreeing with the subject

Why do we say í kvöld and not something like í kvöldið?

Time expressions like í kvöld (this evening / tonight) usually do not take the definite article in Icelandic when they are used in this general, adverbial sense.

Some common fixed expressions:

• í dag – today
• í gær – yesterday
• í kvöld – this evening / tonight
• í nótt – tonight / during the night

Using kvöldið (the evening) would sound like you are talking about a specific, already-known evening as a thing, not just “tonight” in the normal sense. For “tonight” as in everyday speech, í kvöld is the natural form.

What exactly does í kvöld mean? Is it “this evening” or “tonight”?

Í kvöld can be translated as either “this evening” or “tonight”, depending on context.

It usually refers to:

• the coming evening/night of today (roughly from early evening until bedtime).

English often distinguishes:

• this evening (earlier) vs. tonight (later), but Icelandic í kvöld comfortably covers both. Context and time of day fill in the nuance.

Why do we use er (present tense) when we’re talking about tonight, which is in the future?

Icelandic, like English, often uses the present tense for scheduled or known future events.

Compare:

• English: The hotel is full tonight.
• Icelandic: Hótelið er fullt í kvöld.

Even though í kvöld refers to a time later than now, using er is natural because:

• The speaker is talking about a known situation (e.g. all rooms are already booked for tonight),
• not about a process of becoming full.

If you wanted to emphasize the process or change into that state, you might use the future-like form:

• Hótelið verður fullt í kvöld. – The hotel will (end up) full tonight.

What is the difference between Hótelið er fullt í kvöld and Hótelið verður fullt í kvöld?

Both refer to tonight, but the nuance is different:

• Hótelið er fullt í kvöld.

  • Focus: state
  • Means: For tonight, the hotel is already fully booked / there are no free rooms. It states a known fact about tonight.

• Hótelið verður fullt í kvöld.

  • Focus: change or prediction
  • Means: The hotel is expected to become full tonight. It’s not necessarily full yet now, but you think it will be later.

So er fullt = describes a state;
verður fullt = describes becoming that state.

Can I move í kvöld to the beginning, like Í kvöld er hótelið fullt?

Yes, that word order is grammatical and natural.

• Hótelið er fullt í kvöld. – Neutral: “The hotel is full tonight.”
• Í kvöld er hótelið fullt. – Slight emphasis on tonight: “Tonight, the hotel is full.”

Icelandic allows fairly flexible word order, especially with adverbials like time expressions. Moving í kvöld to the front often adds focus/emphasis to the time, but the basic meaning remains the same.

Why is the preposition í used in í kvöld? Does it still literally mean “in”?

The preposition í does literally mean “in” or “into”, but in time expressions it often corresponds to English “on”, “in”, or disappears entirely in translation.

Examples:

• í dag – today
• í gær – yesterday
• í kvöld – tonight / this evening
• í vetur – this winter

So while you could literally think í kvöld = in the evening, the natural English translation is just “tonight” or “this evening”. It’s best to learn í kvöld as a fixed expression.

How do you pronounce hótelið and kvöld?

Approximate pronunciations (for an English speaker):

• hótelið

  • Stress on the first syllable: HÓ-te-lið
  • ó = like the o in go, but a bit tenser and shorter
  • Final -ið: the ð is a soft “th” sound (as in this), often quite weak at the end of the word.

• kvöld

  • Roughly like: kvöld ≈ kvölt
  • ö = like the vowel in British English nurse or German ö in schön
  • The final -ld cluster is quite tight; the d is not strongly released.

Exact phonetics are more detailed, but this approximation will make you understandable.

Are there other natural ways to say “The hotel is full tonight” in Icelandic?

Yes, you can express the same idea in a few different but natural ways, for example:

• Hótelið er fullt bókað í kvöld.
  The hotel is fully booked tonight.

• Það er allt uppbókað á hótelinu í kvöld.
  Everything is booked up at the hotel tonight.

• Það eru engin laus herbergi á hótelinu í kvöld.
  There are no free rooms at the hotel tonight.

The original sentence Hótelið er fullt í kvöld is the shortest and most direct way to say it.