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.