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Er nemandinn þreyttur?

Er nemandinn þreyttur?
Is the student tired?
From Lesson 4:Yes/no questions (ert þú…?)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Er nemandinn þreyttur?

vera
to be
nemandinn
the student
þreyttur
tired

Questions & Answers about Er nemandinn þreyttur?

How does the word order show that this is a question?
In Icelandic, just like in English, you can turn a statement into a yes/no question by moving the verb to the very front of the sentence. The regular statement is Nemandinn er þreyttur (The student is tired). By swapping the subject and the verb so that Er (Is) comes first, it instantly becomes a question.
Why is "the student" written as one word (nemandinn)?
In Icelandic, "the" is not a separate word like it is in English. Instead, it attaches to the end of the noun. The basic word for "student" is nemandi. When we add the masculine suffix for "the", they combine into a single word: nemandinn.
Would the word for "tired" (þreyttur) change if the student was female?
Yes! Adjectives in Icelandic must change their endings to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because nemandi is grammatically a masculine noun, we use the masculine form þreyttur. If we were asking about a feminine noun, like stelpan (the girl), we would drop the "-ur" ending and use the feminine form þreytt: Er stelpan þreytt?

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