Foreldrar mínir leyfa mér að vaka lengur um helgar.

my

Breakdown of Foreldrar mínir leyfa mér að vaka lengur um helgar.

• mér: me
• foreldrið: the parent
• lengur: longer

Questions & Answers about Foreldrar mínir leyfa mér að vaka lengur um helgar.

Why does the possessive pronoun mínir come after foreldrar, not before it?

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns usually come after the noun in neutral, everyday statements:

• foreldrar mínir = my parents
• bróðir minn = my brother
• húsið mitt = my house

Putting the possessive before the noun (mínir foreldrar) is possible, but it sounds more emphatic or contrastive, like:

• Mínir foreldrar leyfa mér það, en þínir foreldrar ekki.
  = My parents allow me that, but your parents don’t.

So foreldrar mínir is the normal, unmarked word order here.

What exactly is the role of mínir in this sentence?

Mínir is the possessive pronoun “my”, and it has to agree with foreldrar in:

• gender: foreldrar = masculine
• number: foreldrar = plural
• case: here, foreldrar is nominative (subject)

So you get:

• masc. nom. pl. of minn (my) → mínir
• hence: foreldrar mínir = my parents

Why is it mér and not mig or after ?