Log inSign up

Er skólinn lokaður?

Er skólinn lokaður?
Is the school closed?
From Lesson 4:Yes/no questions (ert þú…?)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Er skólinn lokaður?

vera
to be
skólinn
the school
lokaður
closed

Questions & Answers about Er skólinn lokaður?

Why does the verb Er come at the very beginning of the sentence?
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.

Learn Er skólinn lokaður and more in Icelandic

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Icelandic →