Questions & Answers about Ég les bækur um há fjöll.
How do you form the plural of bók, and why is it bækur here?
The noun bók (“book”) is a strong feminine noun. Its regular plural nominative (and accusative) ending is -ur, but the stem vowel also changes (umlaut) from ó to æ, giving bækur (“books”). In our sentence bækur is simply the plural form.
What case is bækur in this sentence?
bækur is in the accusative plural, because it’s the direct object of the verb les (“read”). For strong feminine nouns like bók, the accusative plural looks exactly like the nominative plural, so bækur covers both.
What does the preposition um mean here, and which case does it govern?
Here um means “about” (as in “on the topic of”). It always takes the accusative, so the phrase after it—há fjöll—is also in the accusative plural.
Why is the adjective há used instead of hár or hátt?
Icelandic adjectives agree with their noun in gender, number, and case. The dictionary form hár is masculine singular. For neuter plural (which is) the adjective form is , not or .