Breakdown of Ljósa skyrtan er falleg.
vera
to be
fallegur
beautiful
skyrtan
the shirt
ljós
light (in colour)
Questions & Answers about Ljósa skyrtan er falleg.
Why is the first adjective ljósa instead of the standard dictionary form ljós?
Because it comes right before a noun that has the definite article attached (skyrtan, meaning 'the shirt'). When you use an adjective before a specific, definite noun, you must use its weak form. For a feminine noun in this position, ljós becomes ljósa.
If skyrtan is a specific, definite noun, why doesn't the second adjective use a weak ending like fallega?
Adjectives that come directly after the verb er (is) to describe the subject always use their strong form, regardless of whether the noun itself is definite or indefinite. Therefore, we use the strong feminine form falleg.
Why doesn't falleg end in -ur like it does in the dictionary?
The dictionary form fallegur is the masculine version of the word. Because skyrta is a feminine noun, the adjective has to match its gender. To make the strong feminine form, we drop the masculine -ur ending, leaving just falleg.
How does the word skyrtan get its meaning of 'the shirt'?
In Icelandic, the word for 'the' is attached directly to the end of the noun. The base word is skyrta. Because it is a feminine noun that already ends in a vowel, we just add an -n to the end to make it skyrtan.
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