Pakkinn inniheldur bréf og kort af borginni.

and

Breakdown of Pakkinn inniheldur bréf og kort af borginni.

• borgin: the city
• af: of
• pakkinn: the package

Questions & Answers about Pakkinn inniheldur bréf og kort af borginni.

What is the infinitive (dictionary) form of inniheldur, and how is this verb conjugated in the present tense?

inniheldur is the 3rd person singular present of að innihalda (“to contain”). It’s a compound of the strong verb halda. Present‐tense conjugation looks like this:

Singular
ég inniheld
þú inniheldur
hann/hún/það inniheldur

Plural
við inniheldum
þið inniheldið
þeir/þær/þau innihalda

Past tense and past participle follow the same pattern as halda (e.g. past “innihélt”, past participle “innihaldið”).

Why is there no article before bréf and kort? In English we’d say “the letters” or “the maps.”

In Icelandic, nouns are indefinite by default when unmarked. If you want “some letters” or “some maps,” you just say bréf or kort. To make them definite (“the letters,” “the maps”), you add a suffix (see next question).

How do you form the definite singular and plural of bréf and kort?

Both bréf (“letter”) and kort (“map”) are neuter nouns whose indefinite singular and plural are identical. Their definite forms are:

bréf (indef.)
def. sg: bréfið (“the letter”)
def. pl: bréfin (“the letters”)

kort (indef.)
def. sg: kortið (“the map”)
def. pl: kortin (“the maps”)