Learn Icelandic: Stelpurnar voru báðar veikar í gær. - The girls were both sick yesterday.

The word for "both" changes to match the gender and case of the noun it refers to. Since stelpurnar (the girls) is a feminine noun in the nominative (subject) case, we must use the feminine nominative form báðar.

Notice how báðar and veikar share the same ending. Is that a coincidence?

Not at all! Both words describe stelpurnar, a feminine plural noun. In the nominative case, feminine plural adjectives and pronouns typically take the -ar ending. This means báðir becomes báðar, and the adjective veikur (sick) becomes veikar.

Why is báðar placed after the verb voru? Could I say "Báðar stelpurnar voru veikar"?

Yes, you can! Just like in English, you can say "Both the girls were sick" (Báðar stelpurnar voru veikar) or "The girls were both sick" (Stelpurnar voru báðar veikar). Moving the word for "both" after the verb is very natural in Icelandic.

Can you break down the ending on stelpurnar?

The base word is stelpa (girl). The plural is stelpur (girls). To say "the girls", you add the definite suffix for feminine plural nouns, which is -nar, giving you stelpurnar.