Question 1

How does the phrase af því að affect the word order here?

Accepted Answer

The phrase af því að means "because" and connects the two parts of the sentence. In Icelandic, when you use af því að, the words that follow it stay in their normal, everyday order. You can see this here because the subject (það) comes right before the verb (er), exactly as it does in English.

Question 2

Why is "closed" spelled lokuð instead of the dictionary form?

Accepted Answer

Adjectives in Icelandic change their endings to match the noun they describe. The word for "office" (skrifstofa) is a feminine noun. Because of this, we use the feminine singular form of the adjective, which is lokuð.

Question 3

Why does the word for "late" end in a "t" (seint)?

Accepted Answer

Just like "closed" in the first half of the sentence, this adjective must match the word it describes. Here, it describes the word það (it). Because það is a neuter pronoun, we must use the neuter form of the adjective, which adds a "-t" to become seint.

Question 4

Where is the word for "the" in skrifstofan?

Accepted Answer

In Icelandic, the word for "the" is attached directly to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word. The base word is skrifstofa (office). Since it is a feminine word that ends in a vowel, we just add -n to the end to get skrifstofan (the office).

Skrifstofan er lokuð af því að það er seint.

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