Barnabæturnar minnka.

to decrease

Breakdown of Barnabæturnar minnka.

• barnabæturnar: the child benefits

Questions & Answers about Barnabæturnar minnka.

Why is there no separate word for the in this sentence?

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

• barnabætur = child benefits
• barnabæturnar = the child benefits

Here, -nar is the definite ending for this noun form.

What is barnabæturnar made up of?

It has three parts:

• barna- = related to children
• bætur = benefits, compensation
• -nar = the

So the whole word is a compound noun with the definite article added to the end.

Why does it say barna- and not just barn-?

Because the first part of this compound comes from barna, the genitive plural form of barn.

This is very common in Icelandic compounds. A form meaning roughly of children is used to build the compound, even though in natural English we usually translate it more simply as child-.

So:

• barn = child
• barna = of children
• barnabætur = literally something like children’s benefits, but understood as child benefits

Why is barnabætur plural?