Hnappurinn er of lítill fyrir stórar hendur.

to be

Breakdown of Hnappurinn er of lítill fyrir stórar hendur.

• lítill: small
• stór: big
• fyrir: for

Questions & Answers about Hnappurinn er of lítill fyrir stórar hendur.

What does -inn in Hnappurinn mean and why is it there?

In Icelandic you show definiteness by adding a post-positive article to the noun. -inn is the masculine singular nominative definite ending. So hnappur (“button”) becomes hnappurinn (“the button”).

Why is the adjective lítill not weakened even though hnappurinn is definite?

Because lítill here is predicative (it follows the verb er “is”). Predicative adjectives take the strong form and agree in gender, number and case with the subject (masc. sg. nom.), regardless of the noun’s definiteness.

What does the word of mean here and how is it different from English of?

In Icelandic of is an adverb meaning “too” (as in “too small”). It’s not the preposition “of” in English, but the word you use to intensify adjectives: of lítill = “too small.”

Why is fyrir used and what case does it govern?

Fyrir here means “for” in the sense of suitability (“too small for”). It governs the accusative case, so stórar hendur is accusative plural (which for feminine looks identical to nominative plural).

Why is it stórar hendur (plural) and not singular?