Word
Kennarinn gefur lítið dæmi til að útskýra regluna.
Meaning
The teacher gives a small example to explain the rule.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Kennarinn gefur lítið dæmi til að útskýra regluna.
lítill
small
kennarinn
the teacher
til að
to
gefa
to give
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn gefur lítið dæmi til að útskýra regluna.
Why is kennarinn one word, and how does it mean “the teacher”?
Icelandic usually attaches the definite article (the) to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front of it.
- kennari = teacher (indefinite)
- kennarinn = the teacher (definite)
The ending -inn is the masculine singular definite article in the nominative case.
So:
- kennari (a teacher)
- kennarinn (the teacher)
In this sentence, kennarinn is the subject, so it’s in the nominative case, and because we mean a specific teacher, it takes the definite ending.
What form is gefur, and what is the infinitive of this verb?
gefur is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb gefa (to give).
The main forms you’ll see are:
- Infinitive: gefa – to give
- 1st person sg. present: ég gef – I give
- 2nd person sg. present: þú gefur – you give
- 3rd person sg. present: hann / hún / það gefur – he / she / it gives
So in the sentence:
- Kennarinn gefur … = The teacher gives …
Why is it lítið dæmi and not ?