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Laugardagur er góður dagur.

Laugardagur er góður dagur.
Saturday is a good day.

Breakdown of Laugardagur er góður dagur.

vera
to be
góður
good
dagur
the day
laugardagur
the Saturday
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Questions & Answers about Laugardagur er góður dagur.

Why is there no word for “a” in Laugardagur er góður dagur even though the English is “Saturday is a good day”?

Icelandic has no indefinite article (no word for a/an).

  • dagur by itself can mean “day” or “a day” depending on context.
  • So góður dagur can mean “a good day” in this sentence.
  • If Icelandic wants a definite article (“the”), it is usually added as a suffix to the noun:
    • dagurinn = “the day”.
Why is Laugardagur capitalized, but dagur is not?

Laugardagur is the name of a weekday, so it’s treated like a proper noun and is capitalized, just like Saturday in English.

dagur just means “day”, a common noun, so it is not capitalized, just like day in English.

So:

  • Laugardagur = Saturday (name) → capitalized
  • dagur = day (ordinary noun) → lowercase
Both Laugardagur and dagur end in -ur. Does that mean something?

Yes. The -ur ending here marks the nominative singular form of many masculine nouns in Icelandic.

  • Laugardagur = a masculine noun, nominative singular
  • dagur = a masculine noun, nominative singular

So the -ur ending is a clue to:

  • gender: masculine
  • case: nominative
  • number: singular (one day, one Saturday)
What grammatical case are Laugardagur and dagur in, and why are they the same?

Both Laugardagur and dagur are in the nominative singular.

  • Laugardagur is the subject of the verb er (is).
  • dagur is a predicate noun (a noun that says what the subject is) after the verb vera (to be).

In Icelandic, after vera:

  • both the subject and the noun that describes/equals it stay in the nominative case.

So:

  • Laugardagur (subject) → nominative
  • dagur (predicate noun) → also nominative
Why does the adjective góður end in -ur here?

Adjectives in Icelandic agree with the noun they describe in:

  • gender
  • number
  • case

Here:

  • dagur is masculine, singular, nominative.
  • So góður is also masculine, singular, nominative, with the -ur ending.

Some basic forms of this adjective (good) are:

  • masculine: góður (nom. sg.)
  • feminine: góð
  • neuter: gott

It’s góður here because it matches dagur (masculine nominative singular).

Could I say Laugardagur er góð dagur instead?

No, that would be ungrammatical.

  • dagur is masculine, so the adjective must also be in the masculine form: góður.
  • góð is the feminine form, which does not match a masculine noun.

Correct: Laugardagur er góður dagur.
Incorrect: Laugardagur er góð dagur.

What is the role of er in this sentence, and why isn’t it something like eru?

er is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb vera (to be).

Present tense forms of vera:

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

Laugardagur is singular, like it, so the correct form is er:

  • Laugardagur er góður dagur = Saturday is a good day.
Why does the adjective góður come before dagur, like in English?

The normal position of adjectives in Icelandic is before the noun, just like in English:

  • góður dagur = a good day
  • stórt hús = a big house
  • falleg stelpa = a beautiful girl

There are special structures where adjectives can appear after the noun, but in simple noun phrases like this, adjective + noun is standard.

Could I change the word order and say Góður dagur er laugardagur?

You can, but the emphasis changes.

  • Laugardagur er góður dagur focuses on Saturday and says what kind of day it is.
  • Góður dagur er laugardagur sounds more like “A good day is Saturday” (as if you’re defining what counts as a good day).

Grammatically it works, but the most natural, neutral way to say “Saturday is a good day” is Laugardagur er góður dagur.

Can I drop dagur and just say Laugardagur er góður?

Yes.

  • Laugardagur er góður = “Saturday is good.”

This sounds a bit more general or subjective, like “Saturdays are nice / I like Saturdays”, while:

  • Laugardagur er góður dagur literally spells out that it is “a good day”.

Both are correct; which you choose depends on how explicit you want to be.

How do you pronounce Laugardagur er góður dagur?

Approximate pronunciation (not strict IPA, just a guide):

  • Laugardagur ≈ LOI-ga-rda-gur
    • au like “oy” in boy, but a bit more rounded.
    • g is a hard g at the start; between vowels it can soften.
    • r is rolled or tapped.
  • er ≈ air (short)
  • góður ≈ GOE-thur
    • ó like “o” in go.
    • ð is a soft th sound, like then.
  • dagur ≈ DAH-gur

Spoken smoothly: something like “LOI-ga-rda-gur er GOE-thur DAH-gur”.

What does Laugardagur literally mean?

Laugardagur is made of two parts:

  • laugar = baths (plural of laug = bath, hot spring, pool)
  • dagur = day

So it literally means “bath day” or “bathing day”.
This is similar to how Saturday in English is historically “Saturn’s day”: an old cultural origin preserved in the weekday name.

How would I say “Saturdays are good days” in Icelandic?

You make both nouns and the adjective plural:

  • Laugardagar eru góðir dagar.

Breakdown:

  • Laugardagur → Laugardagar (plural nominative)
  • er → eru (3rd person plural are)
  • góður → góðir (masculine nominative plural)
  • dagur → dagar (plural nominative)

So Laugardagar eru góðir dagar = “Saturdays are good days.”