Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin er slökkt.

The oven is hot but the stove is off.

Breakdown of Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin er slökkt.

• vera: to be
• heitur: hot
• en: but
• eldavélin: the stove
• ofninn: the oven
• slökktur: off

Questions & Answers about Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin er slökkt.

What does ofninn mean, and why does it end in -inn?

Ofninn means “the oven.”

• The base noun is ofn = oven (masculine).
• Icelandic usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun:
  • ofn (an oven)
  • ofninn (the oven)

The ending -inn is the masculine nominative singular definite article.
So instead of a separate word like the, Icelandic adds a suffix.

Why is it heitur and not heitt or some other form?

Heitur means “hot” and it agrees with ofninn in gender, number, and case.

• ofninn is masculine, singular, nominative.
• The basic adjective heitur (hot) has different forms:
  • masculine nom. sg.: heitur
  • feminine nom. sg.: heit
  • neuter nom. sg.: heitt

Because the subject is masculine (ofninn), the predicate adjective must also be masculine: Ofninn er heitur.

What does en mean here, and how is it different from og?

In this sentence, en means “but”.

• en = but (contrasts two clauses):
  • Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin er slökkt.
    • The oven is hot *but the stove is off.*
• og = and (just adds information without contrast):
  • Ofninn er heitur og eldavélin er heit.
    • The oven is hot *and the stove is hot.*

So you use en when there is a contrast or opposition between the two parts.

What exactly is eldavélin? Is it an oven, a stove, or something else?

Eldavélin means roughly “the stove” or “the cooker” (the whole cooking appliance with burners / hobs on top).

Breakdown:

• elda = to cook
• vél = machine
• eldavél = “cooking-machine” → stove / cooker
• eldavélin = the stove (feminine nominative singular definite: -in)

So in this sentence you have:

• ofninn = the oven (usually the part you bake in)
• eldavélin = the stove / cooker (the appliance, often including the burners on top)

Why does eldavélin end in -in, while ofninn ends in -inn?

Because they have different grammatical genders:

• ofn is masculine, so its definite nominative singular ending is -inn:
  • ofn → ofninn (the oven)
• eldavél is feminine, so its definite nominative singular ending is -in:
  • eldavél → eldavélin (the stove)

So:

• masculine: -inn
• feminine: -in
• neuter: typically -ið (e.g. borð → borðið, “the table”)

What does slökkt mean here? It looks like “extinguished” more than “off”.

Slökkt is the past participle of the verb slökkva = to extinguish, to turn off.

In this sentence, slökkt functions like an adjective and means “off”:

• Eldavélin er slökkt.
  • literally: The stove is extinguished.
  • natural English: The stove is off.

This is very common in Icelandic: past participles of verbs are used as adjectives to describe a state:

• Ljósinu var slökkt. – The light was turned off / was off.
• Tölvan er kveikt. – The computer is on (literally lit).

Why is it slökkt and not something like slökktin, to match eldavélin?

The definite form (“the”) is already expressed on the noun, not on the adjective/participle.

• Noun: eldavélin – the stove
• Verb: er – is
• Adjective/participle: slökkt – off

In Icelandic:

• The noun carries the definite article (-in, -inn, -ið).
• The adjective (or participle) just agrees in gender, number, and case, but does not take a definite ending by itself in this kind of predicate position.

So:

• Eldavélin er slökkt. – correct
• Adding a definite ending to slökkt as well would be ungrammatical.

Does slökkt agree with eldavélin in gender and number?

Yes, it does, even though the form is not very obviously changing here.

The participle slökktur has these nominative singular forms:

• masculine: slökktur
• feminine: slökkt
• neuter: slökkt

Eldavélin is feminine singular nominative, so we must use the feminine form:

• slökkt (fem. nom. sg.)

By coincidence, the feminine and neuter forms look the same here, but grammatically slökkt is agreeing with eldavélin as feminine.

Are ofninn and eldavélin both in the nominative case? How can I tell?

Yes, both are nominative singular definite.

You can tell because:

1. They are the subjects of the verb er (is).
   In simple sentences with vera (to be), the subject is normally in the nominative:
   • Ofninn (who/what is hot?) → subject
   • eldavélin (who/what is off?) → subject
2. Their endings:
   • -inn (masc. nom. sg. definite)
   • -in (fem. nom. sg. definite)

Other cases (accusative, dative, genitive) would typically be required by certain prepositions or verbs, which we don’t have here.

Could I leave out the second er and say: Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin slökkt?

Yes, that is possible and natural in Icelandic.

Both versions are fine:

• Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin er slökkt. – fully explicit.
• Ofninn er heitur en eldavélin slökkt. – omits the repeated er, still clear.

Omitting the repeated er is common, especially in speech, when the verb would be exactly the same in both parts of the sentence.

Why are both nouns definite (the oven, the stove) instead of indefinite (an oven, a stove)?

In Icelandic, it’s very common to use the definite form when talking about specific, context-known objects, especially things in your home (like appliances, furniture) that you and your listener both know about.

So if you are talking about your own kitchen:

• Ofninn = the oven (the one in this kitchen)
• Eldavélin = the stove (again, the known one)

If you said:

• Ofn er heitur og eldavél er slökkt,
  it would sound more like you’re speaking in a very generic or odd way (an oven is hot and a stove is off), which is not how you’d normally describe the state of your kitchen.