Word
Vottorðið er gilt til miðnættis.
Meaning
The certificate is valid until midnight.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Vottorðið er gilt til miðnættis.
Why does miðnætti end in -s in this sentence?
The preposition til always requires the following noun to take the genitive case. The base word for "midnight" is the neuter noun miðnætti. To make it genitive, we add an -s, resulting in til miðnættis (until midnight).
Does til always mean "until"?
Not always! In time expressions like this one, til means "until" (a deadline or time-up-to). However, it is also very commonly used to mean "to" (when traveling to a place) or "for" (when getting something for someone). No matter the meaning, til always triggers the genitive case.
Why is the word for "valid" gilt instead of gildur?
Adjectives in Icelandic must match the gender of the noun they describe. The dictionary form gildur is masculine. Because vottorð (certificate) is a neuter noun, the adjective drops the masculine ending and becomes the neuter form gilt.
What are the parts of the compound word miðnætti?
It is formed from mið- (meaning "mid" or "middle") and -nætti (a form related to nótt, meaning "night"). It maps perfectly to the English word "midnight".