Breakdown of Skólinn er lokaður út af ófærðinni.
vera
to be
skólinn
the school
lokaður
closed
út af
because of (+ dative)
ófærðin
the impassable roads
Questions & Answers about Skólinn er lokaður út af ófærðinni.
Why is ófærðinni in the dative case here?
It comes directly after the preposition út af (because of). In Icelandic, út af always forces the noun that follows it to take the dative case.
What is the base word for ófærðinni and how is the ending formed?
The base word is ófærð, which is a feminine noun meaning bad travel conditions or blocked roads. To say "the impassable roads" in the dative case, we add the feminine dative definite article ending -inni.
Why does lokaður end in -ur?
Lokaður (closed) is an adjective describing Skólinn (the school). Since skóli is a masculine noun in the nominative case, the adjective must also be in the masculine nominative singular form, which takes the -ur ending.
The English translation says "impassable roads" (plural), but ófærðinni is singular. Why?
In Icelandic, ófærð is a singular abstract noun that describes the state of roads being impassable due to weather. English does not have a common single word for this, so we translate it as the plural "impassable roads" to sound natural.
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