Questions & Answers about Stelpan er fjórtán ára.
Do I need to change the ending of fjórtán to match the feminine noun stelpan?
No. Unlike the numbers 1 through 4, which change their endings to match gender and case, the numbers 11 through 20 (like fjórtán) do not decline. They stay exactly the same no matter who or what you are counting.
Why is the word for years written as ára here instead of just ár?
Is the -tán part of fjórtán the Icelandic equivalent of the English '-teen'?
Exactly! Just like English adds '-teen' to base numbers to make them teens, Icelandic adds -tán. You take the root of fjórir (four) and add -tán to get fjórtán (fourteen).
Why does stelpan end with an -n?
This is a quick reminder of how the definite article ('the') works in Icelandic. Instead of a separate word in front, it attaches to the end of the noun. The base word is stelpa (a girl). Because it is a feminine noun ending in a vowel, we just add -n to make stelpan (the girl).
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