Questions & Answers about Hann hrærir egg á pönnunni þar til þau eru tilbúin.
How can we tell that egg means “eggs” (plural) here and not just “an egg”?
Neuter nouns like egg often look the same in the singular and plural in the nominative and accusative. So the form egg by itself does not tell you if it is one or more.
You know it is plural here from agreement in the rest of the clause:
- þau = “they” (neuter plural pronoun)
- eru = “are” (3rd person plural of vera “to be”)
- tilbúin = “ready” in the neuter plural form
If it were only one egg, you would expect:
- það er tilbúið = “it is ready” (neuter singular)
A singular version of the whole sentence would typically be:
- Hann hrærir eggið á pönnunni þar til það er tilbúið.
“He stirs the egg in the pan until it is ready.”
Why is there no separate word for “the” before egg or pönnunni?
Icelandic usually puts the definite article after the noun as a suffix, instead of as a separate word like English the. For these nouns:
- egg = egg / eggs (indefinite)
- eggið = the egg (neuter singular definite)
eggin = the eggs (neuter plural definite)
- panna = (a) pan
- pönnunni = the pan (dative singular definite; used here after á)
So pönnunni already contains the meaning of “the pan”; you do not add any extra word for “the”.