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Fjögur börn eru heima.

Fjögur börn eru heima.
Four children are at home.
From Lesson 31:Number agreement 1 to 4 (einn, tveir…)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Fjögur börn eru heima.

vera
to be
barnið
the child
heima
at home
fjórir
four

Questions & Answers about Fjögur börn eru heima.

Why is the word for 'four' fjögur here instead of fjórir?
In Icelandic, the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 change to match the gender of the noun they are counting. Since börn (children) is a neuter word, we must use the neuter form of 'four', which is fjögur. Fjórir is the masculine form!
How do I know börn is plural?
The singular word for 'child' is barn. When it becomes plural ('children'), the vowel changes from 'a' to 'ö'. This is a very common type of vowel shift in Icelandic. Since we are counting four of them, we use the plural börn.
Why is the word for 'at home' heima and not heim?
Heima is used when someone is resting or staying in a place (meaning 'at home'). If someone is traveling or moving towards their house (like 'going home'), you would use heim instead. Since the children are already there, we use heima.
Do we use eru because börn is a neuter word?
No, verbs like eru (are) do not change based on gender! They only change based on who or what is doing the action. Since börn is a plural noun, it acts like 'they', so we use the plural verb eru.

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