Questions & Answers about „Stór“ og „lítill“ eru andheiti.
Because the subject is two things together: stór and lítill.
- er = is (singular)
- eru = are (plural)
So Icelandic treats stór og lítill as a plural subject, just like English does in big and small are opposites.
This is the present tense of að vera (to be):
- ég er = I am
- þú ert = you are
- hann/hún/það er = he/she/it is
- við/vér erum = we are
- þið eruð = you are
- þeir/þær/þau eru = they are
So here, eru simply means are.
They are being given in their basic citation form, the form you would usually learn first for an adjective: masculine singular nominative.
So:
- stór = masculine singular nominative
- lítill = masculine singular nominative
This is the form you would use with a masculine singular noun, for example:
- stór hundur = a big dog
- lítill hundur = a small dog
When Icelandic talks about words themselves, it often uses this basic dictionary-style form.