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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Settu bókina í hornið. - Put the book in the corner.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Lesson 11
/Settu bókina í hornið.

Settu bókina í hornið.

Word

Settu bókina í hornið.

Meaning

Put the book in the corner.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Icelandic

Lesson

Breakdown of Settu bókina í hornið.

Questions & Answers about Settu bókina í hornið.

How do you form the imperative settu from the infinitive setja, and why is the j dropped and the t doubled?

In Icelandic, the 2nd person singular imperative of weak verbs ending in -ja is made by:

Removing -ja, leaving the stem set-
Dropping the j and doubling the final consonant (t → tt)
Adding the ending -u

So setja (“to put”) becomes sett + u = settu.

Why is the noun bókina in the accusative singular definite form rather than the nominative bókin?

Here bókina is the direct object of settu, so it must be in the accusative case. Because we’re talking about a specific book (“the book”), we use the definite form. Feminine nouns form their accusative singular definite by adding -ina to the stem:

bók (stem) → bókina (acc. sg. def.)

The nominative singular definite (subject form) would be bókin, but as an object we say bókina.

Why do we say í hornið instead of í horninu or í horni, and what case is hornið in?

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The preposition í governs:

Accusative when indicating movement into something
Dative when indicating a static location inside

Since you’re placing/moving the book into the corner, you use the accusative: hornið. For neuter nouns, nominative = accusative in form (horn → hornið), so context tells us it’s accusative here.
If you wanted to say “in the corner” (no movement), you’d use dative: í horninu.
To say “in a corner” (indefinite), you’d use accusative indefinite: í horn.

Who is the subject in Settu bókina í hornið, and why is it not expressed?

This is an imperative addressed to “you” (second person). Icelandic drops the pronoun þú in imperatives because it’s understood. So settu really means “[you] put.”

What is the typical word order in Icelandic imperatives, and how is this reflected here?

Icelandic imperatives generally follow V-O-A order:

V: Settu
O: bókina
A: í hornið

That’s “Verb → Object → Adverbial/Prepositional phrase.”

How would you say “Put the books in the corner” (making “book” plural)?

Use the accusative plural definite of bók, which is bækur → bækurnar. The rest stays the same: Settu bækurnar í hornið.

Can you add inn to emphasize movement, and how would that change the sentence?

Yes. Adding inn before í highlights the motion “into.” You’d get: Settu bókina inn í hornið.
It still means “put the book into the corner,” but with a bit more emphasis on the act of moving it inside.

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