Questions & Answers about Já, ég er kennari.
Where is the word for "a" in this sentence?
Icelandic does not have an indefinite article (a word for "a" or "an"). Because of this, you simply say "I am teacher" (ég er kennari).
Why do we use er here?
er is the form of the verb vera (to be) that matches the pronoun ég (I). Just like in English where you say "I am" instead of "I is", in Icelandic you must say ég er.
If I wanted to say "You are a teacher", would the verb still be er?
No, the verb changes based on the person you are talking about. For þú (you), the correct form is ert. The sentence would become Þú ert kennari.
Why isn't ég capitalized like the English word "I"?
Unlike in English, the Icelandic word for "I" (ég) is only capitalized when it is the very first word of a sentence. Here, it comes after Já, so it stays lowercase.