Questions & Answers about Janúar er fyrsti mánuðurinn.
"Janúar" is capitalized here. Are months usually capitalized in Icelandic?
No. Unlike in English, months in Icelandic are always written with lowercase letters (for example, janúar and febrúar). It is only capitalized here because it is the very first word of the sentence.
Are all twelve months masculine nouns?
Yes! All the months of the year, as well as the word mánuður (month) itself, are masculine. Because of this, any adjectives or articles describing a month will always use their masculine forms.
Why does mánuðurinn have the definite article "-inn" at the end, making it "the month"?
In Icelandic, ordinal numbers like fyrsti (first) are treated as definite words. When you use a definite word like this, the noun it attaches to usually needs the definite article added to its end as well to match. That is why mánuður (month) becomes mánuðurinn (the month).
Why is everything in this sentence in the nominative case?
The verb er (is) acts as an "equals sign" between janúar and fyrsti mánuðurinn. Because it just links two things together rather than showing an action being done to an object, both sides stay in the nominative case (the basic dictionary form).
Learn Janúar er fyrsti mánuðurinn and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free