Ruslafatan í eldhúsinu er full af rusli eftir kvöldmatinn.

to be

Breakdown of Ruslafatan í eldhúsinu er full af rusli eftir kvöldmatinn.

• í: in
• eftir: after
• fullur: full

Questions & Answers about Ruslafatan í eldhúsinu er full af rusli eftir kvöldmatinn.

What does ruslafatan literally mean, and how is it formed?

Ruslafatan means “the trash can / the garbage bin”.

It is a compound word:

• rusl = trash, rubbish (neuter noun)
• fata = bucket, pail (feminine noun)

Together: rusl + a + fata → ruslafata “trash-bucket”.

Then the definite ending -n is added:

• ruslafata = a trash can
• ruslafatan = the trash can (nominative singular, feminine)

So Ruslafatan at the start of the sentence is “the trash can” and is the subject of the sentence.

Why is it ruslafatan and not ruslafata in this sentence?

Because we are talking about a specific trash can, not trash cans in general.

Icelandic usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun:

• ruslafata = a trash can (indefinite)
• ruslafatan = the trash can (definite, nominative singular)

In English: “The trash can in the kitchen is full…”, so Icelandic uses the definite form ruslafatan.

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

Ruslafatan is feminine.

That matters because adjectives and some other words agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. Here, is describing , so it must match it: