Breakdown of Ég hef geymt gömlu flíkurnar mínar í kjallaranum.
ég
I
minn
my
gamall
old
í
in
hafa
to have
geyma
to store
flíkan
the garment
kjallarinn
the basement
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Questions & Answers about Ég hef geymt gömlu flíkurnar mínar í kjallaranum.
How is Ég hef geymt structured, and how does it differ from simple past like Ég geymdi?
Icelandic builds the present perfect with the auxiliary hafa (here hef, meaning I have) plus a past participle. So Ég hef geymt literally I have stored and shows the clothes are still stored. Ég geymdi is the simple past I stored and simply recounts a past action without present relevance.
How is the past participle geymt formed from the verb geyma?
Geyma is a weak verb ending in -a. To form its past participle, drop -a and add -t, yielding geymt. This participle pairs with hef in the present perfect.
Why is the adjective gömlu in the weak form here instead of the strong form gamla?
The noun phrase is definite (indicated by -nar on flíkurnar), so adjectives use the weak declension. For a feminine plural noun, the weak form of gamal is gömlu. If the phrase were indefinite, you would use the strong plural gamlar flíkur.
How do you form the definite plural flíkurnar from the noun flík?
Flík is a feminine noun whose indefinite plural is flíkur. To make it definite, add the suffix -urnar, giving flíkurnar, meaning the garments.
Why does the possessive pronoun mínar come after the noun and adjective, and can it go before?
In Icelandic, possessive pronouns are postpositive: they follow the noun (and any adjectives). Therefore gömlu flíkurnar mínar means my old clothes. Placing mínar before (for example mínar gömlu flíkurnar) would be ungrammatical.
Why is í kjallaranum in the dative case, and when would í take the accusative instead?
The preposition í takes the dative when indicating a static location, as in in the basement. To express movement into the basement, you’d use the accusative: í kjallarann.
How is kjallaranum formed from kjallari, and what do the parts -a and -num signify?
Kjallari is a masculine noun. Its dative singular indefinite is kjallara (ending in -a). To make it definite in the dative, add -num, yielding kjallaranum, which means in the basement.