Questions & Answers about Ég er ekki hjólari.
How is the word hjólari formed?
It comes from the verb að hjóla (to bike or cycle) plus the suffix -ari. This suffix creates agent nouns, which are words for a person who performs a certain action. It works exactly like adding -er to a verb in English to make words like rider or baker.
What gender are nouns that end in -ari, like hjólari?
They are always masculine. As a bonus for your B1 studies, they follow a very predictable pattern: they only change their ending in the genitive singular (becoming hjólara) and their nominative plural is always -arar (like hjólarar).
Why is hjólari in the nominative case here instead of the accusative?
Because it follows the verb að vera (to be). The verb to be acts as an equals sign between the subject (ég) and the noun describing it (hjólari). Since it doesn't take a direct object, both sides of the equation stay in the nominative case.
I have also seen the word hjólreiðamaður for cyclist. Which one should I use?
Hjólari is the casual, everyday word you would use in a conversation like this. Hjólreiðamaður literally translates to bicycle-riding-man and is used in more formal contexts, like news reports or official traffic rules.
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