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Konan og stelpan eru heima.

Konan og stelpan eru heima.
The woman and the girl are at home.
From Lesson 6:Plural pronouns and to be (við erum, þeir eru)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Konan og stelpan eru heima.

vera
to be
og
and
stelpan
the girl
konan
the woman
heima
at home

Questions & Answers about Konan og stelpan eru heima.

Why is the verb eru used here instead of er?
Even though konan (the woman) and stelpan (the girl) are singular words on their own, together they make a plural subject. Therefore, you need the plural form of the verb 'to be', which is eru (are).
If I want to replace Konan og stelpan with the pronoun for 'they', which one do I use?
You would use the feminine plural pronoun þær. In Icelandic, there are three words for 'they'. Because both a woman and a girl are feminine nouns, a group made entirely of females uses þær. If there were a male in the group, it would change to the mixed-gender pronoun þau.
As a quick refresher, why do both konan and stelpan end in the letter -n?
That -n is the attached definite article, meaning 'the'. In Icelandic, 'the' is added to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word before it. So kona means 'a woman', but konan means 'the woman'.
The lesson covers plural adjectives. Why doesn't heima change its ending to match the plural subject?
Because heima (at home) is an adverb, not an adjective! Adjectives describe nouns and must change to match their plural forms, but adverbs usually describe where, when, or how something is happening. Adverbs in Icelandic do not change their form to match the subject.

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