Questions & Answers about Skálin er tóm núna.
Yes. -in is the definite article suffix (“the”) attached to the noun.
- skál = bowl (indefinite: “a bowl”)
- skálin = the bowl
Icelandic usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun (rather than using a separate word like English the).
The dictionary (lemma) form is skál (indefinite, nominative singular).
In this sentence you see skálin, which is skál + -in (definite nominative singular).
er is the 3rd person singular present form of að vera (“to be”).
It matches the subject skálin (“the bowl”), which is singular.
Other present forms you’ll commonly see:
- ég er (I am)
- þú ert (you are)
- hann/hún/það er (he/she/it is)
- við erum, þið eruð, þeir/þær/þau eru (we/you(pl)/they are)
Adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
skál is feminine, and here it’s singular nominative, so the adjective appears as tóm.
Very roughly (in nominative singular, indefinite adjective forms):
- masculine: tómur
- feminine: tóm
- neuter: tómt
So you’d get:
- Glasið er tómt. (The glass is empty.) — glass is neuter
- Pokinn er tómur. (The bag is empty.) — poki is masculine
- Skálin er tóm. (The bowl is empty.) — skál is feminine
Sometimes Icelandic uses a “weak” adjective form with definite nouns, but with simple predicate sentences like this (X is Y), you very often see the “normal/strong” agreement form as here: Skálin er tóm.
You will also encounter weak forms in other contexts (especially before a definite noun), e.g. tóma skálin (“the empty bowl”), where the adjective is placed before the noun and takes a different ending.
núna (“now”) is flexible. The sentence most naturally ends with it, but other placements are possible depending on emphasis and style, for example:
- Skálin er tóm núna. (neutral/common)
- Núna er skálin tóm. (emphasizes “now” / contrasts with earlier) Both are grammatical; word order choices often reflect what you want to highlight.
Yes. Skálin er tóm. simply means The bowl is empty.
Adding núna explicitly anchors it in time: The bowl is empty now (often implying it wasn’t earlier, or might not be later).
A rough guide for an English speaker:
- Skálin: the á is like ow in now (long vowel), and sk is like English sk.
- er: short, like eh-r said quickly.
- tóm: long ó is like a long oh; final m is clear.
- núna: ú is like oo in food; stress is on the first syllable: NÚ-na.
Main stress in Icelandic is generally on the first syllable of words.
Because it’s the subject of the sentence (“the bowl”). In Icelandic, the subject of a basic copular sentence (X er Y) is normally nominative.
The predicate adjective (tóm) also appears in nominative to match the subject.
Negation:
- Skálin er ekki tóm núna. = The bowl is not empty now.
Yes/no question:
- Er skálin tóm núna? = Is the bowl empty now?
Icelandic often forms yes/no questions by putting the verb first (Er …?).
You’d remove the definite ending:
- Skál er tóm núna. is unusual in normal speech as a standalone (it can sound like “A bowl is empty now” in a very general sense).
More natural would be:
- Ein skál er tóm núna. = One bowl is empty now.
- Or you’d specify which bowl in context. Icelandic doesn’t have an indefinite article like a/an, so you often rely on context or words like ein (“one”) when you need to be explicit.
Plural changes both the noun and the verb:
- Skálarnar eru tómar núna. = The bowls are empty now.
Here: - skálarnar = “the bowls” (definite plural)
- eru = “are”
- tómar = adjective agreeing with feminine plural nominative