Word
Bróðir minn var þreyttur í gær.
Meaning
My brother was tired yesterday.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Bróðir minn var þreyttur í gær.
Why do we use var in this sentence?
Var is the past tense of vera (to be) for "he", "she", or "it". Since the subject of the sentence is bróðir (brother), which is a "he", we use var to say "was".
Why is the word order Bróðir minn instead of "Minn bróðir"?
In Icelandic, possessive words like minn (my) almost always come directly after the noun they belong to. So, you literally say "Brother my" instead of "My brother".
Why does the adjective þreyttur end in "-ur"?
Adjectives in Icelandic change their endings to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because bróðir is a masculine noun, we use the masculine dictionary form þreyttur. If you were talking about a sister, it would be the feminine form þreytt without the "-ur" ending.
Why does it take two words (í gær) to say "yesterday"?
Icelandic expresses "yesterday" as a set phrase that literally translates to "in yesterday". You will almost never see the word gær used on its own; it always needs the preposition í in front of it.