Maturinn er íslenskur í kvöld.

The food is Icelandic tonight.

Breakdown of Maturinn er íslenskur í kvöld.

• vera: to be
• íslenskur: Icelandic
• í kvöld: tonight
• maturinn: the meal

Questions & Answers about Maturinn er íslenskur í kvöld.

Why does matur become maturinn here?

In Icelandic, the definite article (“the”) is usually not a separate word. It is added as an ending on the noun.

• matur = food / a meal (indefinite: “food”, “a meal”)
• maturinn = the food / the meal (definite: “the food”, “the meal”)

So in Maturinn er íslenskur í kvöld, the -inn shows that we are talking about specific food/meal: “the food” (for this evening, at this place), not just food in general.

What exactly does the ending -inn on maturinn tell me?

The ending -inn encodes three things about matur:

1. Definiteness – it means “the”.
2. Number – it is singular.
3. Gender – it is masculine.

So maturinn means “the (masculine, singular) food/meal” in the nominative case (the form used for the subject of the sentence).

Is there ever a separate word for “the” in Icelandic, like in English?