Hundurinn er inni í bílnum.

The dog is inside the car.

Breakdown of Hundurinn er inni í bílnum.

• vera: to be
• hundurinn: the dog
• bíllinn: the car
• inni í: inside

Questions & Answers about Hundurinn er inni í bílnum.

Why is it hundurinn and not just hundur?

Because hundurinn means the dog, while hundur means a dog or just dog.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

• hundur = dog
• hundurinn = the dog

So the sentence starts with a definite subject: the dog.

What case is hundurinn, and why?

Hundurinn is in the nominative singular.

That is the case normally used for the subject of a sentence, and here the dog is the subject of er.

A simple way to see it:

• hundur = nominative singular indefinite
• hundurinn = nominative singular definite

So Icelandic is marking both:

• number: singular
• gender: masculine
• definiteness: definite
• case: nominative

What does er mean here?

Er is the present tense form of vera, which means to be.

Here it means is.

Because hundurinn is third person singular, Icelandic uses er:

• ég er = I am
• þú ert = you are
• hann/hún/það er = he/she/it is

So Hundurinn er ... = The dog is ...