Questions & Answers about Hestar eru mjög fallegir.
How do we form the plural hestar from the singular word for horse?
The singular word for a horse is hestur. For most masculine nouns that end in -ur, you drop the -ur and add -ar to make the bare nominative plural. That gives us hestar (horses).
Why is the word for "are" eru here instead of er?
Er means "is" (singular), but we are talking about multiple horses. So we have to use the plural verb form eru, which is used for "we", "you (plural)", and "they".
Why does the adjective fallegir end in -ir?
Adjectives in Icelandic have to match the noun they describe in gender and number. Since hestar is masculine and plural, the basic adjective fallegur changes its ending to the masculine plural -ir, making fallegir.
Could I use hestarnir here instead of hestar?
You could, but it would change the meaning. Hestarnir eru mjög fallegir means "The horses are very beautiful," referring to a specific group of horses. Using the bare plural hestar shows we are talking about horses in general.
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