Learn Icelandic: Er skólinn lokaður?

Because this is a yes/no question! In Icelandic, you turn a statement into a yes/no question by moving the verb to the front. The regular statement Skólinn er lokaður (The school is closed) flips its word order to become Er skólinn lokaður? (Is the school closed?).

Where is the word for 'the' in skólinn?

In Icelandic, the word for 'the' is usually added to the very end of a noun as a suffix. The basic word for school is skóli, and the masculine suffix for 'the' is -inn. They merge together to form skólinn.

Why does the word lokaður end in -ur?

Lokaður means 'closed' and it acts as an adjective. In Icelandic, adjectives change their endings to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since skóli is a masculine noun, the adjective gets the standard masculine singular ending -ur.

If I want to answer 'Yes, it is closed', do I use það for 'it'?

No, you would actually use hann (he)! Because skóli is a masculine noun, you must use the masculine pronoun hann when referring back to it, even though we just say 'it' in English. A full answer would be: Já, hann er lokaður.