Kvöldgangan er góð.

The evening walk is good.

Breakdown of Kvöldgangan er góð.

• vera: to be
• góður: good
• kvöldgangan: the evening walk

Questions & Answers about Kvöldgangan er góð.

What are the parts of the word Kvöldgangan, and what does it literally mean?

Kvöldgangan is a compound noun made of:

• kvöld = evening
• ganga = walk / walking, a walk (noun, feminine)

So kvöldganga literally means “evening walk”, and kvöldgangan means “the evening walk” (with the definite ending added).

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Why is it kvöldgangan and not kvöldganga? What does the -n at the end do?

The -n is part of the definite article (like “the” in English) and is attached to the noun as a suffix in Icelandic.

• kvöldganga = an evening walk
• kvöldgangan = the evening walk

Because ganga is a feminine noun, the nominative singular definite ending is -n, but it appears here as -an (since the stem ends in -a):

• indef. nom. sg.: kvöldganga
• def. nom. sg.: kvöldgangan

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Why doesn’t Icelandic use a separate word for “the” here, like English does?

In Icelandic, the usual way to mark definiteness is by attaching an ending directly to the noun: