Breakdown of Kennarinn leyfir nemendum að spyrja margar spurningar.
spyrja
to ask
nemandinn
the student
kennarinn
the teacher
margur
many
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn leyfir nemendum að spyrja margar spurningar.
What does kennarinn literally mean, and why does it end in -inn?
Kennarinn means the teacher.
- kennari = a teacher (indefinite, nominative singular)
- kennarinn = the teacher (definite, nominative singular)
Icelandic usually adds the definite article as an ending on the noun (-inn, -an, -ið, etc.) instead of using a separate word like the.
Why is it nemendum and not nemendur?
Nemendur is nominative plural (students as the subject).
In this sentence, nemendum is in the dative plural, because it is the indirect object of leyfir.
The declension of nemandi (a student) in the plural is:
- Nominative: nemendur (students – subject)
- Accusative: nemendur
- Dative: nemendum ← used here
- Genitive: nemenda
So leyfir nemendum = allows (to) the students.
Why does leyfir take the dative case with nemendum?
Some Icelandic verbs always take a specific case for their objects, and you simply have to learn them with that case.