Kvittunin er í veskinu.

to be

Breakdown of Kvittunin er í veskinu.

• í: in
• veskið: the wallet
• kvittunin: the receipt

Questions & Answers about Kvittunin er í veskinu.

What does each word do in the sentence?

• Kvittunin: a feminine noun in nominative singular, definite; means the receipt. Base form: kvittun; definite ending: -in.
• er: present tense of vera (to be), 3rd person singular; means is.
• í: preposition meaning in; with location it governs the dative case.
• veskinu: neuter noun in dative singular, definite; means the wallet (here: in the wallet). Base form: veski; definite dative ending: -nu.

Why does kvittun become kvittunin?

Icelandic adds the definite article as a suffix. For most feminine nouns in nominative singular, the definite ending is -in. So kvittun + -in → kvittunin (the receipt). Because the stem already ends in -n, you see -nin at the end.

Why is it í veskinu and not í veskið?

Because í takes the dative for static location. Veskið is nominative/accusative definite; veskinu is dative definite. Since the receipt is located in the wallet (no movement), dative is required: í veskinu.

Which case does í take, and when?