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Nei, það er hús.

Nei, það er hús.
No, it is a house.
From Lesson 2:Singular pronouns and to be (ég er, þú ert)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Nei, það er hús.

Why do we use the pronoun það in this sentence?
The word það means "it". In Icelandic, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). The word for house, hús, is a neuter noun, so we use the neuter pronoun það to refer to it.
Why is the verb er used here instead of ert?
Er is the form of the verb vera (to be) that goes with the third-person pronouns hann (he), hún (she), and það (it). You would only use ert when talking directly to someone, as in þú ert (you are).
The English translation says "a house", but where is the word for "a" in the Icelandic sentence?
Icelandic does not have words for "a" or "an" (which are called indefinite articles). A noun by itself, like hús, can mean either "house" or "a house" depending entirely on the context.

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