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Þetta eru mjög gamlir hlutir.

Þetta eru mjög gamlir hlutir.
These are very old things.
From Lesson 27:Plural nouns (-ar, -ir, -ur)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Þetta eru mjög gamlir hlutir.

þetta
this
vera
to be
gamall
old
mjög
very
hluturinn
the thing (m)

Questions & Answers about Þetta eru mjög gamlir hlutir.

Why do we use þetta (this) when the sentence means 'These are'?
When introducing a sentence with 'This is...' or 'These are...', Icelandic uses the neuter singular word þetta as a fixed starting point. Even though we are talking about plural things, þetta stays singular, but the verb eru (are) becomes plural to match the things being discussed.
How do we get the plural form hlutir?
The singular word is hlutur (thing), which is a masculine noun. To make it plural in the nominative case, we drop the standard masculine -ur ending and replace it with the plural ending -ir, giving us hlutir.
Why is the word for 'old' written as gamlir here?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender and number. Since hlutir is a masculine plural noun, the dictionary form of the adjective gamall (old) changes to its masculine plural form, gamlir.
Does the word mjög (very) ever change its ending to match the plural noun?
No! Because mjög is an adverb describing the adjective, it never changes. Adverbs do not have gender or plural forms in Icelandic, so it will always be mjög regardless of what noun is in the sentence.

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