Breakdown of Flaskan er líka tóm og ég hef ekkert vatn.
vera
to be
og
and
ég
I
vatnið
the water
flaskan
the bottle
líka
also
hafa
to have
ekkert
nothing / no (neut.)
tómur
empty
Questions & Answers about Flaskan er líka tóm og ég hef ekkert vatn.
Why do we use ekkert here instead of the dictionary form enginn?
Ekkert is the neuter singular form of the word enginn (no/none). It changes to match the noun it describes. Because vatn (water) is a neuter noun in the accusative case here, we must use the neuter accusative form, which is ekkert.
I thought ekkert meant 'nothing'. Can it also mean 'no'?
Yes! When used on its own, ekkert usually means 'nothing'. But when placed directly before a neuter noun like vatn, it means 'no' or 'not any'. So ekkert vatn translates to 'no water'.
Why is the word for empty written as tóm instead of tómur?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. The base dictionary form is the masculine tómur, but flaska (bottle) is a feminine noun. Therefore, the adjective takes the feminine singular form tóm.
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