Snjórinn er djúpur.

The snow is deep.

Breakdown of Snjórinn er djúpur.

• vera: to be
• snjórinn: the snow
• djúpur: deep

Questions & Answers about Snjórinn er djúpur.

What does each word in Snjórinn er djúpur mean, and how does it match the English sentence?

The sentence means “The snow is deep.”

• Snjórinn

  • snjór = snow
  • -inn = the suffixed definite article “the”
  • So snjórinn = “the snow” (literally snow-the).

• er = is (3rd person singular of vera = to be).

• djúpur = deep (masculine form, agreeing with snjórinn).

So the structure is directly parallel to English:
Snjórinn (the snow) – er (is) – djúpur (deep).

Why is it Snjórinn and not just Snjór?

Icelandic usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun:

• snjór = snow
• snjórinn = the snow

The choice between them is similar to English:

• Snjór er djúpur. → Snow is deep. (general statement about snow)
• Snjórinn er djúpur. → The snow is deep. (specific snow you’re looking at / talking about)

In your sentence, we are clearly talking about particular snow (for example, outside right now), so snjórinn with the definite article is used.

What gender, number, and case is Snjórinn, and why?

Snjórinn is:

• Gender: masculine
• Number: singular
• Case: nominative

Reason:

• It is the subject of the sentence (the snow is doing the “being deep”), and subjects normally stand in the nominative case in Icelandic.
• The base noun snjór is listed in dictionaries as snjór (m.), so it is masculine.
• We are talking about one mass of snow as a singular subject, not multiple “snows”.

So: nominative masculine singular definite = snjórinn.

What exactly is the -inn ending in Snjórinn? Is it like an article?

Yes. The -inn is the definite article (“the”) attached to the noun:

• Masculine nominative singular often adds -inn:
  • maður → maðurinn (man → the man)
  • stóll → stóllinn (chair → the chair)
  • snjór → snjórinn (snow → the snow)

If you wanted an article before the noun, Icelandic can use hinn, but that’s usually more formal or literary:

• hinn djúpi snjór = the deep snow (with an explicit article before the adjective)
• In everyday speech and writing, you mainly use the suffixed article (snjórinn).

Why does djúpur end in -ur? Could it be djúpt or djúp instead?

Djúpur is an adjective meaning “deep”. In Icelandic, adjectives change form to agree with the noun’s:

• gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• number (singular / plural)
• case (nominative / accusative / dative / genitive)

Here:

• The noun snjórinn is masculine, singular, nominative.
• So the adjective also takes the masculine singular nominative form: djúpur.

Other common nominative singular forms of this adjective:

• Masculine: djúpur → snjórinn er djúpur (the snow is deep)
• Feminine: djúp → á körfuna er djúp (the basket is deep)
• Neuter: djúpt → vatnið er djúpt (the water is deep)

So:

• You would say Vatnið er djúpt. (The water is deep.) because vatn is neuter.
• You would say Gatan er djúp. (The street is deep – awkward meaning, but grammatically correct) because gata is feminine.

Why isn’t there a definite ending on djúpur as well, like djúpurinn?

Only one definite article is used for a noun phrase, and it attaches to the noun, not to the predicate adjective.

• The noun carries definiteness: snjórinn = the snow.
• The adjective just agrees in gender/number/case, but does not itself get the article in this position.

So in a sentence like:

• Snjórinn er djúpur.
  
  • snjór-inn → the snow
  • djúpur → deep (masc. nom. sg., agreeing with snjórinn)

If an adjective comes before a definite noun, then it usually takes a weak ending that shows definiteness:

• djúpi snjórinn or hinn djúpi snjórinn = the deep snow

But after the verb vera (to be), as a predicate, you normally see the strong form here: djúpur.

What is the verb er exactly, and how does it conjugate?

Er is the 3rd person singular present tense of vera = to be.

Present tense forms:

• ég er – I am
• þú ert – you (sg.) are
• hann / hún / það er – he / she / it is
• við erum – we are
• þið eruð – you (pl.) are
• þeir / þær / þau eru – they are

In Snjórinn er djúpur, the subject is 3rd person singular (snjórinn = “it”), so you use er = is.

Can I change the word order, like Djúpur er snjórinn? Does it mean something different?

Yes, you can say:

• Djúpur er snjórinn.

This is grammatically correct. The meaning is still essentially “The snow is deep”, but the emphasis shifts:

• Snjórinn er djúpur. – neutral word order; just stating a fact.
• Djúpur er snjórinn. – puts more focus on how deep it is; it can sound more poetic or emphatic (like: Deep, the snow is).

In everyday neutral speech, Snjórinn er djúpur is the usual order.

How do you pronounce Snjórinn er djúpur?

Approximate pronunciation (in simple English terms):

• Snjórinn ≈ SNYO-rin

  • snj is like sn-y together, a bit like “sny” in “snew”.
  • ó is a long o sound, similar to the o in “snow”, but more pure.
  • Stress is on the first syllable: SNJÓ-rinn.

• er ≈ ehr (short, like “air” but very short and clipped).

• djúpur ≈ DYU-pur

  • dj a bit like dy in “due”.
  • ú is a long oo sound (as in “food”).
  • Stress on DJÚ: DJÚ-pur.

So slowly: SNJÓ-rinn ehr DJÚ-pur, with main stress on SNJÓ and DJÚ.

How would I say “The snow was deep” or “The snow will be deep”?

Use other tenses of vera (to be):

• Past (was):

  • Snjórinn var djúpur.
    → The snow was deep.

• Future (will be):

  • Snjórinn verður djúpur.
    → The snow will be deep.

Key forms:

• var = was (3rd person singular past)
• verður = will be (3rd person singular future)

How do I say “The snow is very deep” or “not deep” using this sentence?

You can add adverbs and negation:

1. Very deep

   • Snjórinn er mjög djúpur.
     → The snow is very deep.
     (mjög = very)

2. Extremely deep

   • Snjórinn er rosalega djúpur.
     → The snow is extremely/really deep.
     (rosalega = very / extremely (colloquial))

3. Not deep

   • Snjórinn er ekki djúpur.
     → The snow is not deep.
     (ekki = not)

How would the sentence change if the noun were plural, like “The snows are deep”?

Plural of snjór (in the nominative) is snjóar, with the definite form snjóarnir:

• snjór – snow
• snjóar – snows
• snjóarnir – the snows

The adjective must also be plural masculine nominative, and the verb must agree:

• Snjóarnir eru djúpir.
  
  • Snjóarnir = the snows (nom. pl. masc.)
  • eru = are (3rd person plural of vera)
  • djúpir = deep (masc. nom. pl.)

Meaning: “The snows are deep.”

(In practice, Icelandic speakers usually talk about snow as a mass noun, so Snjórinn er djúpur is far more common than using a plural “snows”.)