Foreldrar mínir vinna í borginni.

to work

Breakdown of Foreldrar mínir vinna í borginni.

• minn: my
• í: in
• borgin: the city

Questions & Answers about Foreldrar mínir vinna í borginni.

Why is the phrase Foreldrar mínir used here, and why does the possessive pronoun come after the noun?

In Icelandic the possessive pronoun must agree in gender, number and case with the noun it modifies.

• Foreldrar is masculine plural nominative.
• The weak form of minn for masc. pl. nom. is mínir.
  So you get Foreldrar mínir.
  Also, unlike English, Icelandic normally places the possessive pronoun after the noun.

Why don’t we see an article like “the” or “a” in Foreldrar mínir?

Icelandic has no separate words for “a/an” or “the.”

• Indefiniteness is unmarked (there is no plural “a”).
• Definiteness is shown by suffixes (e.g. -inn, -ið, -nir).
• When you use a possessive pronoun, the noun automatically is definite, so you do not add a definite ending.
  Hence just Foreldrar mínir (“my parents”).

Why is the verb vinna used here instead of vinnur?

In the present tense Icelandic verbs agree with both person and number:

• 3rd person singular (he/she/it) ends in -ur: e.g. hann vinnur (“he works”).
• 3rd person plural (they) uses the bare stem, identical to the infinitive: .Since is plural, you use for “they work.”