Skálin er full af eplum.

The bowl is full of apples.

Breakdown of Skálin er full af eplum.

• vera: to be
• fullur: full
• af: of
• eplið: the apple
• skálin: the bowl

Questions & Answers about Skálin er full af eplum.

Why is it skálin and not skál?

Skál means (a) bowl. Skálin means the bowl. Icelandic usually marks the by attaching a definite ending to the noun:

• skál (indefinite) → skálin (definite, feminine singular nominative)

So the sentence is literally The bowl is full of apples.

What is the base (dictionary) form of skálin, and why does it look different?

The dictionary form is skál (feminine). When you add the definite article in the nominative singular, you get skálin. You may also notice the vowel length/spelling ská-; that’s just how the word is spelled—there isn’t a separate “article word” like English the in this structure.

Why is the adjective full and not fullt or fullur?

Predicate adjectives in Icelandic agree with the subject in gender, number, and case.

• skálin is feminine singular nominative
• therefore full is the feminine singular nominative form

Compare:

• Skálin er full. (fem.)
• Bollinn er fullur. (masc., fullur)
• Glasið er fullt. (neut., fullt)
• Skálarnar eru fullar. (plural fem., fullar)

Why does it use af? Does af always mean of?

Not exactly. af often corresponds to of/from, but in the common pattern fullur/full/fullt + af, it’s best learned as a fixed collocation meaning full of:

• full af eplum = full of apples

So here af is the normal, idiomatic choice with fullur.

Why is it af eplum and not af epli?

Because af governs the dative case in modern Icelandic, and epli is being used in the plural.

Declension (common pattern for neuter nouns like epli):

• Nominative plural: epli
• Accusative plural: epli
• Dative plural: eplum ← used after af
• Genitive plural: epla

So af eplum is of apples with the correct case.

Is eplum definite or indefinite? How would I say the apples?

eplum is indefinite (just apples). If you mean specific apples (the apples), you would use the definite dative plural:

• af eplunum = of the apples

Both are possible; af eplum is more general and common unless the apples are already known in the conversation.

Why is skálin in the nominative—how do I know it’s the subject?

Icelandic marks grammatical roles largely with case. In a simple “X is Y” sentence:

• the thing being described is the subject and is typically nominative
• the verb is vera (er = is)
• the adjective is a predicate adjective agreeing with the subject

So Skálin is nominative because it’s the subject: The bowl is what’s being described.

Could the word order be different?

Yes, but the neutral, most common order is exactly what you see:

• Skálin er full af eplum.

You can change word order for focus (especially in longer sentences), but beginners should treat this as the default pattern.

Can I also say something like Það er fullt af eplum í skálinni?

Yes. That’s another very common Icelandic structure:

• Það er fullt af eplum í skálinni. = There are lots of apples in the bowl / The bowl is full of apples.

Notice two differences: 1) fullt is used because það is grammatically neuter singular, and the adjective agrees with það.
2) í skálinni uses dative because it describes location (in the bowl).

How do I pronounce Skálin er full af eplum?

A few helpful pronunciation pointers:

• Stress is on the first syllable: SKÁ-lin, EP-lum
• á is a long au-like vowel (roughly ow in cow, but not identical)
• ll in full is often pronounced more like tl (so it can sound a bit like futl to English ears)
• af ends with f (often somewhat devoiced), and it links smoothly into the next word

Exact sounds vary a bit by speaker, but these cues will get you close.

Does full behave like a normal adjective elsewhere (attributive use), or only in this pattern?

It behaves like a normal adjective and declines normally. For example:

• full skál = a full bowl (attributive; adjective in the same case/gender/number as the noun)
• fulla skálin = the full bowl (definite noun + adjective declined accordingly)

But the specific pairing fullur/full/fullt + af + dative is a very common idiomatic way to express full of X.