Breakdown of Ein rós er gömul, en þrjár eru nýjar.
vera
to be
en
but
nýr
new
gamall
old
einn
one
þrír
three
rósin
the rose
Questions & Answers about Ein rós er gömul, en þrjár eru nýjar.
Why is it ein instead of einn?
Why is "three" written as þrjár here instead of þrír?
This is also because we are counting feminine roses! The number 3 changes to match the gender of the noun. Þrjár is the feminine form for "three", while þrír is the masculine form and þrjú is the neuter form.
Why doesn't the sentence say þrjár rósir (three roses)?
Just like in English ("One rose is old, but three are new"), you don't need to repeat the noun if it's obvious from the context. Because we use the feminine number þrjár and the feminine adjective nýjar, it is completely clear that we are still talking about roses.
Why do the adjectives gömul (old) and nýjar (new) have different types of endings here?
Adjectives must match the noun in both gender and number (singular or plural). Gömul is the feminine singular form because it describes just one rose. Nýjar gets the plural -ar ending because it describes three roses.
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