Henni finnst kjóllinn ljótur.

her

Breakdown of Henni finnst kjóllinn ljótur.

• finnast: to think
• kjóllinn: the dress
• ljótur: ugly

Questions & Answers about Henni finnst kjóllinn ljótur.

Why is it henni and not hún?

Because finnast often takes the experiencer in the dative case, not the nominative.

So in this sentence:

• henni = to her / she as the person having the opinion
• kjóllinn = the thing being judged
• ljótur = ugly

A very literal breakdown is:

• Henni = to her
• finnst = seems / is found
• kjóllinn = the dress
• ljótur = ugly

So the structure is closer to To her, the dress seems ugly than to ordinary English She thinks the dress is ugly.

What does finnst mean here?

Here finnst means something like:

• seems
• is considered
• is found
• idiomatically, thinks

So Henni finnst kjóllinn ljótur means She thinks the dress is ugly.

A more literal translation would be The dress seems ugly to her.

This is a very common Icelandic way to express opinions, impressions, and personal judgments.

Why does the verb end in -st?