Hún finnur seðillinn undir stólnum.

She finds the banknote under the chair.

Breakdown of Hún finnur seðillinn undir stólnum.

• hún: she
• stóllinn: the chair
• finna: to find
• undir: under
• seðillinn: the banknote

Questions & Answers about Hún finnur seðillinn undir stólnum.

What does Hún mean?

Hún is the third person singular feminine pronoun in Icelandic, meaning she in English.

Why is the verb finnur spelled with double n, and what grammatical form is it?

finnur is the present tense, third person singular form of the verb finna (“to find”).

• Icelandic keeps a short vowel before a doubled consonant, so the root fin- doubles the n.
• Conjugation in the present tense (ý = you, sg. = singular, pl. = plural): • ég finn
  • þú finnur
  • hann/hún/það finnur
  • við finnum
  • þið finnið
  • þeir/þær/þau finna

Why does seðillinn end in -inn, and what does that suffix indicate?

The suffix -inn is the definite article for masculine nouns in the nominative singular.

• seðill = “a note” (indefinite)
• seðillinn = “the note” (definite)

What case does undir govern, and how does that affect stóll?

The preposition undir (“under”) always takes the dative case in Icelandic.

• The base form (lemma) is stóll (“chair”).
• In the dative singular, stóll becomes stólnum. The suffix -num marks dative singular for this noun.

Can you drop the subject pronoun Hún in this sentence?

Yes. Icelandic verbs are fully inflected for person and number, so the subject pronoun can be omitted when context is clear.

• With pronoun: Hún finnur seðil­linn undir stólnum.
• Without pronoun: Finnur seðillinn undir stólnum.
  Omitting Hún is common in spoken Icelandic for brevity.

What is the basic word order in this sentence?

The default Icelandic word order is Subject–Verb–Object (SVO), with adverbial or prepositional phrases typically placed after the object:

1. Subject (Hún)
2. Verb (finnur)
3. Object (seðillinn)
4. Adverbial/prepositional phrase (undir stólnum)

Why is the vowel in stólnum written as ó (with an acute accent)?

Icelandic uses acute accents to mark vowel quality and length.

• ó represents a long, close-mid back rounded vowel [oː].
• An unaccented o would be a short vowel [ɒ].

How do you pronounce the letter ð in seðillinn?

The letter ð (called “eth”) is pronounced as a voiced dental fricative, similar to the th in English this.

• So seðillinn sounds roughly like “seth-ihl-inn,” with ð as in “this.”