Rigningin er falleg í kvöld.

to be

Breakdown of Rigningin er falleg í kvöld.

• falleg: beautiful
• í kvöld: tonight
• rigningin: the rain

Questions & Answers about Rigningin er falleg í kvöld.

Why is it rigningin and not just rigning?

Rigning is the basic noun meaning rain (as precipitation).
Rigningin is rigning + -in, where -in is the definite article attached to the end of the word.

So:

• rigning = rain (in general, no article)
• rigningin = the rain

Icelandic usually does not use a separate word like English the. Instead, the definite article is a suffix:

• bók → bókin (book → the book)
• rigning → rigningin (rain → the rain)

---

Why is the article attached to the noun instead of a separate word like in English?

That is just how definiteness works in modern Icelandic. The regular definite article is a suffix, not a separate word:

• hestur → hesturinn (horse → the horse)
• kona → konan (woman → the woman)
• rigning → rigningin (rain → the rain)

There is a separate demonstrative sá / sú / það (roughly that), but it is not a normal article and would sound wrong here.
So you say:

• Rigningin er falleg í kvöld. = The rain is beautiful this evening.
  not
• *Sú rigning er falleg í kvöld. (only possible in special contexts, like contrasting that particular rain with some other rain)

---

What gender is rigning, and how do I know?

Rigning is feminine in Icelandic.

You cannot usually see the gender just from the ending as a beginner; you have to learn it (or look it up). Dictionaries mark gender like this:

• rigning f. = feminine noun
• bíll m. = masculine noun
• borð n. = neuter noun

Because rigning is feminine, the definite form is rigningin, and any adjective referring to it (like falleg) has to use feminine agreement.

---

Why is the adjective falleg and not fallegur like in the dictionary?

Dictionary forms of adjectives are given as masculine nominative singular, so you see fallegur.

But adjectives agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here the noun is:

• rigningin (the rain)
• feminine
• singular
• nominative (subject of the sentence)

So the adjective must be:

• feminine nominative singular → falleg

Some common forms of fallegur:

• fallegur – masculine nom. sg.
• falleg – feminine nom. sg.
• fallegt – neuter nom./acc. sg.

Hence:

• Bíllinn er fallegur. – The car is beautiful. (masc.)
• Stelpan er falleg. – The girl is beautiful. (fem.)
• Húsið er fallegt. – The house is beautiful. (neut.)
• Rigningin er falleg. – The rain is beautiful. (fem.)

---

Could I say Rigningin er fallegt í kvöld?

No, that would be ungrammatical.

• Rigningin is feminine, so the adjective must also be feminine: falleg.
• fallegt is the neuter form and would only match a neuter noun (for example veðrið – the weather).

Correct options:

• Rigningin er falleg í kvöld. – The rain is beautiful this evening.
• Veðrið er fallegt í kvöld. – The weather is beautiful this evening.

---

What exactly does í kvöld mean? Is it literally “in the evening”?

Literally, í kvöld is in evening, but as a fixed time expression it means:

• this evening or tonight (in the sense of “this evening’s time period”)

You cannot normally translate it as in the evening in a general, habitual sense. Some related expressions:

• í dag – today
• í gær – yesterday
• í fyrramálið – tomorrow morning
• í kvöld – this evening / tonight

For a general or habitual meaning in the evenings, you would instead say:

• á kvöldin – in the evenings (habitually, every evening or usually in the evening)

---

Why is it í kvöld and not a definite form like í kvöldinu?

With these time expressions, Icelandic normally uses the bare noun (without the suffixed article), even though English uses the or this:

• í morgun – this morning
• í dag – today
• í kvöld – this evening / tonight

Using a definite ending here (\í kvöldinu) is unidiomatic and would sound wrong in standard Icelandic. The idea of *this or the is already included by the expression itself.

---

What case is rigningin in here, and why?

Rigningin is in the nominative case.

Reason:

• It is the subject of the sentence (the thing that “is beautiful”).

So:

• Rigningin – nominative (subject)
• er – verb is
• falleg – adjective agreeing with the subject in nominative
• í kvöld – time expression (literally “in evening”)

The preposition í before a time word like kvöld usually takes the accusative, but kvöld has the same form in nominative and accusative, so you do not see a change here.

---

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Í kvöld er rigningin falleg?

Both word orders are grammatically correct:

1. Rigningin er falleg í kvöld.
   – Neutral order, subject first. Very natural.

2. Í kvöld er rigningin falleg.
   – Emphasizes the time frame (as for this evening, the rain is beautiful). Also natural.

Icelandic word order is relatively flexible, but you must respect the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb (er) comes in the second position:

• Í kvöld (first element) er (second = verb) rigningin (third) falleg (fourth).

---

How would I say “There is beautiful rain this evening” instead of “The rain is beautiful this evening”?

You can change the focus by making rigning indefinite and using dummy það:

• Það er falleg rigning í kvöld.

Meaning: There is beautiful rain this evening / It’s raining beautifully this evening.

Compare:

• Rigningin er falleg í kvöld. – The rain (that is falling) is beautiful this evening.
  (Focus on the rain as a known thing.)

• Það er falleg rigning í kvöld. – There is (some) beautiful rain this evening.
  (Focus on the fact/occurrence of beautiful rain.)

---

Is Rigningin er falleg í kvöld something Icelanders would naturally say?

It is grammatical and understandable, but it sounds a bit poetic or lyrical in everyday speech, because:

• rigning is usually something people complain about, not praise.

In everyday language, people more often talk about the weather in general:

• Veðrið er fallegt í kvöld. – The weather is beautiful this evening.
• Það er fallegt veður í kvöld. – The weather is nice this evening.

Your original sentence would fit nicely, for example, in a poem, a song lyric, or a reflective comment like The way the rain looks in the streetlights is beautiful tonight.

---

How do you pronounce rigningin and kvöld?

Approximate pronunciation (Icelandic phonology is a bit complex, this is simplified):

• rigningin ≈ RIG-ning-in

  • ri like ri in ring
  • gn pronounced roughly like ng
    • a light k sound: [riŋk-]
  • the -in is like English in, and then another short -in: rign-ing-in

  IPA (approx.): [ˈrɪɣniŋcɪn]

• kvöld ≈ kvœlt

  • kv like kv in kvetch
  • ö similar to German ö in schön or French eu in peur
  • ld here is pronounced closer to lt

  IPA (approx.): [kʰvœlt]

So the whole sentence:

• Rigningin er falleg í kvöld. ≈ RIG-ning-in ehr FAHL-leg ee kvœlt