Hún snertir eyrað mitt.

She touches my ear.

Breakdown of Hún snertir eyrað mitt.

• hún: she
• snerta: to touch
• mitt: my
• eyrað: the ear

Questions & Answers about Hún snertir eyrað mitt.

Why is the noun eyrað written with a suffix -ð instead of using a separate word for “the”?

eyrað is the definite singular form of the neuter noun eyra (“ear”). In Icelandic the definite article is a suffix attached to the noun:

• eyra = an ear (indefinite)
• eyrað = the ear (definite)

Why does the possessive pronoun mitt come after eyrað instead of before, like in mitt eyra?

Icelandic lets you place possessive pronouns either before or after the noun, but the article behaves differently:

• mitt eyra (no article attached) = “my ear” (indefinite)
• eyrað mitt (with article attached) = “my ear” (definite, specific ear)
  When you want “my [specific] ear,” the normal pattern is to put the article on the noun and the possessive after it.

What case is eyrað mitt, and why does it look the same as the nominative form?

Here eyrað mitt is in the accusative case (it’s the direct object of snertir). Neuter singular nouns and pronouns in Icelandic have identical forms in nominative and accusative. Thus both “the ear” in subject position and “the ear” as object look the same: eyrað, mitt.

Does the verb snerta ever require a preposition, or does it always take its object directly?

snerta is a fully transitive verb and takes its object directly in the accusative. You do not use a preposition like á.
Example:

• Hún snertir eyrað mitt. (She touches my ear.)

Why is Hún capitalized here? Does that change its meaning?

Hún is simply the third-person feminine singular pronoun “she,” and as in English, the first word of a sentence is capitalized in Icelandic. The capitalization is purely orthographic—it doesn’t change the meaning.

What is the infinitive (base form) of snertir, and which persons use this form of the verb?

The infinitive is snerta (“to touch”). The present-tense conjugation is:

• Ég snerta
• Þú snertir
• Hann/hún/það snertir
• Við snertum
• Þið snertið
• Þeir/þær/þau snerta
  So snertir is used for you (singular) and he/she/it.

Why is it mitt here and not minn or mín?

Possessive pronouns in Icelandic agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify:

• minn = masculine singular
• mitt = neuter singular
• mín = feminine singular
  Since eyrað is neuter singular, the correct form is mitt.