Breakdown of Lögfræðingurinn les samninginn.
Questions & Answers about Lögfræðingurinn les samninginn.
In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.
So:
- lögfræðingur = lawyer
- lögfræðingurinn = the lawyer
and
- samningur = contract / agreement
- samninginn = the contract / the agreement
The exact form of that attached article changes depending on gender, number, and case, so it will not always look the same.
Because Icelandic nouns change form depending on their grammatical case.
In this sentence:
- lögfræðingurinn is the subject = the person doing the reading
- samninginn is the direct object = the thing being read
The subject is in the nominative case, while the direct object is in the accusative case.
So the two nouns take different forms:
- lögfræðingurinn = nominative singular definite
- samninginn = accusative singular definite
This is very common in Icelandic. English mostly does not show this on nouns, but Icelandic does.