Sjónvarpið er hátt á veggnum.

to be

Breakdown of Sjónvarpið er hátt á veggnum.

• á: on
• hár: high
• sjónvarpið: the television

Questions & Answers about Sjónvarpið er hátt á veggnum.

Why does Sjónvarpið end with -ið?

In Icelandic the definite article is a suffix. Sjónvarp is a neuter noun, so -ið marks the neuter singular definite form (“the television”).

Why is á veggnum in the dative case?

The preposition á takes the dative when expressing a static location (“on the wall”). If you express movement onto the wall, you use the accusative form: á vegginn.

Why is “high” written as hátt?

The base adjective is hár (“high, tall”). In the neuter nominative singular it becomes hátt to agree with the neuter noun sjónvarp.

How can you tell that hátt is an adjective here and not an adverb?

Here hátt agrees in gender, number and case (neuter nominative) with Sjónvarpið, so it’s a predicate adjective. As an adverb it would be uninflected and modify a verb, e.g. tala hátt (“speak loudly”).

What is the Icelandic sentence for the English phrase They hung the TV on the wall?

Hengdu sjónvarpið á vegginn.