Breakdown of Auðveld verkefni eru skemmtileg.
vera
to be
skemmtilegur
fun
verkefnið
the assignment
auðveldur
easy
Questions & Answers about Auðveld verkefni eru skemmtileg.
How do we know verkefni is plural in this sentence?
Verkefni is a neuter noun that looks exactly the same in both the singular and plural forms when it is the subject of a sentence. We know it means "tasks" and not "task" here because of the surrounding words: the verb eru (are) is plural, and the adjectives auðveld and skemmtileg are in their plural forms.
Why do the adjectives auðveld and skemmtileg look like they are missing their endings?
They are actually in the neuter plural form! In Icelandic, adjectives must match the noun's gender and number. For many adjectives, the neuter plural is simply the root of the word. They drop the masculine singular -ur or neuter singular -t, leaving us with auðveld (from auðveldur) and skemmtileg (from skemmtilegur).
Are these adjectives using the strong or weak declension?
They are using the strong declension. We use strong adjectives when the noun is indefinite (meaning "easy tasks", rather than "the easy tasks"). If we wanted to say "The easy tasks are fun", we would use the weak adjective form and add the definite article to the noun: Auðveldu verkefnin eru skemmtileg.
What other common meanings does the word verkefni have?