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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Moltugerðin er mikilvæg. - Composting is important.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Sharing a vegetable-garden plot
/Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

Word

Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

Meaning

Composting is important.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Icelandic

Lesson

Sharing a vegetable-garden plot

Breakdown of Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

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Questions & Answers about Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

Why is Moltugerðin written as one word?

Because Icelandic makes compound nouns very freely, and they are usually written as a single word.

Here, Moltugerðin is built from:

moltu-
- gerð
  - -in

English often prefers separate words, but Icelandic often packs the whole idea into one compound noun.

What does the ending -in mean?

-in is the suffixed definite article, basically the Icelandic way of saying the.

So:

moltugerð = the basic noun
moltugerðin = the
- noun

Unlike English, Icelandic usually attaches the to the end of the noun instead of putting it in front as a separate word.

What is the dictionary form of Moltugerðin?

The dictionary form is moltugerð.

The form in the sentence, moltugerðin, is the definite singular form. If you look the word up in a dictionary, you would normally search for moltugerð, not the form with -in attached.

What gender is moltugerð, and why does that matter?

Moltugerð is a feminine noun.

That matters because in Icelandic, adjectives and articles must match the noun in gender, number, and often case. So the feminine gender of moltugerð helps explain why the adjective appears as mikilvæg here.

What does er mean here?

Er is the 3rd person singular present tense of vera, which means to be.

So it works like English is:

er = is

This is the normal verb form used with a singular subject like Moltugerðin.

Why is the adjective mikilvæg and not some other form?

Because the adjective has to agree with the subject.

Here the subject is:

singular
feminine
nominative

So the adjective appears in the matching form mikilvæg.

Useful comparison:

masculine: mikilvægur
feminine: mikilvæg
neuter: mikilvægt

So in this sentence, feminine mikilvæg is the correct choice.

Why isn’t it mikilvæga, since the noun is definite?

This is a very common learner question.

Even though Moltugerðin is definite, the adjective after er is a predicate adjective, and predicate adjectives normally use the strong form in Icelandic.

So:

Moltugerðin er mikilvæg. = correct

But weak adjective forms are typically used when the adjective comes before a definite noun, not after er.

For example, in a different structure you might see something like:

hin mikilvæga ...

But after er, mikilvæg is the normal form.

What case is Moltugerðin, and what case is mikilvæg?

Moltugerðin is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.

With the verb vera (to be), the predicate adjective is also normally in the nominative, so mikilvæg is nominative feminine singular as well.

So both parts match:

subject: nominative singular feminine
adjective: nominative singular feminine

Is the word order fixed here?

The neutral word order is:

Subject + Verb + Adjective

So:

Moltugerðin er mikilvæg.

That is the most straightforward, normal order.

Icelandic can sometimes move things around for emphasis, but this sentence is in the basic unmarked order and is the form learners should aim to recognize first.

Why is only the first word capitalized? Aren’t nouns capitalized?

No. Unlike German, Icelandic does not capitalize all nouns.

So Moltugerðin is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence, not because it is a noun.

If it appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be written with a lowercase m.

How do I pronounce the trickiest parts of this sentence?

A few useful pronunciation points:

Stress usually falls on the first syllable in Icelandic words.
In -gerðin, the letter ð is like the th in this.
In mikilvæg, the æ is roughly like eye in English.
The final g in mikilvæg is not a hard English g like in go; it is softer.

You do not need a perfect accent right away, but noticing ð and æ will help a lot.

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