Breakdown of Aldurinn er bara tala, en ég er fimmtíu ára.
vera
to be
ég
I
en
but
bara
just / only
fimmtíu
fifty
talan
the number (numerical, digit)
aldurinn
the age
ára
years old
Questions & Answers about Aldurinn er bara tala, en ég er fimmtíu ára.
Why do we use ára instead of just ár to say 'years old'?
Why does the sentence use aldurinn ('the age') instead of just aldur?
The word aldur means 'age', and -inn is the attached definite article meaning 'the'. While English simply says 'Age is just a number', Icelandic frequently uses the definite article when making general statements about abstract concepts.
Does the number fimmtíu (fifty) change its ending depending on who is speaking?
No, it stays the same. In Icelandic, only the numbers 1 through 4 change their form to match gender and case. Higher numbers like fimmtíu never change their endings.
Is tala singular or plural here?
It is singular, meaning 'a number'. If the sentence were about multiple numbers, it would use the plural form tölur.
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