Breakdown of Leikstjórinn var að fela slúðrið.
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
fela
to hide
slúðrið
the gossip
leikstjórinn
the director
Questions & Answers about Leikstjórinn var að fela slúðrið.
The word for gossip is slúður. Since it ends in -ur, isn't it a masculine noun?
No, slúður is actually a neuter noun. While -ur is the classic ending for masculine nouns (like hestur or hundur), a few common words ending in -ur are neuter, such as veður (weather) and slúður (gossip). That's why it takes the neuter definite article -ið to become slúðrið.
What case is slúðrið in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case. The verb fela (to hide) requires the object being hidden to be in the accusative. Because slúður is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form, which is why it remains slúðrið.
Why is the definite article on leikstjóri (director) just -nn instead of -inn?
Leikstjóri is a masculine noun that ends in a vowel. When we add the masculine definite article -inn to a word that already ends in -i, the extra -i- is dropped to make pronunciation smoother. So, leikstjóri + -inn simply becomes leikstjórinn.
How could we continue this sentence with the conjunction enda (seeing that / and indeed)?
You can use enda to provide the obvious reason why he was hiding the gossip. For example: Leikstjórinn var að fela slúðrið, enda var það vandræðalegt (The director was hiding the gossip, seeing that it was embarrassing). Notice that because enda is a coordinating conjunction, it keeps the normal word order in the second clause, meaning the verb var stays right after the conjunction.
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