Questions & Answers about Svefnherbergið mitt er lítið en hlýtt.
Why does svefnherbergið end with -ið instead of just svefnherbergi?
In Icelandic, nouns get a definite article as a suffix. For neuter singular nouns like svefnherbergi (“bedroom”), you add -ið to make it “the bedroom.”
So svefnherbergi = “a bedroom,” svefnherbergið = “the bedroom.”
Why is the possessive pronoun mitt used here instead of minn?
Possessive pronouns agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. Svefnherbergi is a neuter noun. Neuter singular “my” is mitt.
Masculine would be minn, feminine mín, plural mín.
Both adjectives lítið and hlýtt end in -t. Why?
Adjectives agreeing with a neuter singular noun in the nominative case take the ending -t.
The base forms are lítill (masc), lítið (neut), lítil (fem); hlýr, hlýtt, hlý.
What does the conjunction en mean? Could I use og instead?
Here en means “but,” contrasting small vs. warm: “small but warm.” Og means “and” (simple addition), so “lítið og hlýtt” would be “small and warm” without the sense of contrast.