Matur inniheldur vatn.

the food

Breakdown of Matur inniheldur vatn.

• innihalda: to contain
• vatnið: the water

Questions & Answers about Matur inniheldur vatn.

Why is there no article before Matur?

Icelandic has no indefinite article a. Nouns without a suffixed ending are both generic and indefinite. To say the food, you attach the definite suffix -inn, yielding maturinn.

What case is vatn in here? It looks identical to the nominative.

It’s the direct object, so it’s in the accusative case. For many neuter nouns like vatn, the nominative and accusative indefinite forms coincide.

What does the prefix inni- add to halda, and where does inniheldur come from?

The base verb halda means to hold. Adding the prefix inni- (in/inside) gives innihalda, to hold inside → to contain. inniheldur is the present 3rd-person form of að innihalda.

What tense and person is inniheldur, and how is að innihalda conjugated in the present?