Fóturinn hennar er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim.

Her foot is tired after a long walk home.

Breakdown of Fóturinn hennar er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim.

• vera: to be
• heim: home
• eftir: after
• langur: long
• hennar: her
• þreyttur: tired
• fóturinn: the foot
• göngutúr: the walk

Questions & Answers about Fóturinn hennar er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim.

Why is it Fóturinn hennar and not hennar fótur, when in English we say “her foot”?

In Icelandic, the neutral and most common way to say “X’s [body part / possession]” is:

• [noun] + [definite article] + [possessor in genitive]
  → fóturinn hennar = “the foot of her / her foot”

Putting hennar before the noun (hennar fótur) is possible but sounds marked, with extra emphasis or contrast:

• Hennar fótur er þreyttur, ekki minn.
  “Her foot is tired, not mine.”

So:

• fóturinn hennar = ordinary “her foot”
• hennar fótur = “her foot (as opposed to someone else’s foot)”

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What does the ending -inn in fóturinn mean?

The ending -inn is the definite article (“the”) attached to the end of the noun.

• fótur = “foot”
• fóturinn = “the foot”

Icelandic usually attaches the definite article to the noun, instead of using a separate word like English the.

So Fóturinn hennar literally is “the foot of her” → “her foot”.

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Why is þreyttur masculine, and how does it agree with fóturinn?

In Icelandic, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• number (singular / plural)
• case (nominative / accusative / dative / genitive)

Here:

• fóturinn is masculine, singular, nominative (subject of the sentence).
• Therefore, þreyttur is also masculine singular nominative.

If the noun changed, the adjective would change:

• Fóturinn er þreyttur. – The (masc.) foot is tired.
• Hendin er þreytt. – The (fem.) hand is tired.
• Augað er þreytt. – The (neut.) eye is tired.

þreyttur / þreytt / þreytt are all “tired”, but they change form to match the noun.

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Why is eftir used here, and what case does it take in eftir langan göngutúr?

Eftir is a preposition that (among other things) means “after” in a temporal sense.

When eftir means “after (a period of time or an event)”, it typically governs the accusative case. That is what we have here:

• eftir langan göngutúr
  
  • langan = masculine singular accusative of langur (“long”)
  • göngutúr = masculine singular accusative (“walk”)

So the phrase means “after a long walk (home)” and eftir is the reason langur becomes langan.

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Why is it langan göngutúr instead of langur göngutúr?

Because eftir requires accusative here, and the adjective must agree in case with the noun.

Base forms:

• Adjective: langur – “long” (masc. nom. sg.)
• Noun: göngutúr – “walk” (masc. nom./acc. sg.)

In the accusative masculine singular, langur becomes langan:

• Nominative: langur göngutúr – “a long walk” (as subject)
• Accusative: eftir langan göngutúr – “after a long walk”

So langur → langan because of the accusative case governed by eftir.

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What exactly is göngutúr, and what gender is it?

Göngutúr is a compound noun:

• ganga – “a walk, walking”
• túr – “trip, tour”

Literally: a “walking-trip”, i.e. a walk / a stroll.

Grammar:

• Gender: masculine
• Typical singular forms:
  
  • Nominative: göngutúr
  • Accusative: göngutúr
  • Dative: göngutúr
  • Genitive: göngutúrs

In the sentence, it is masculine accusative singular in eftir langan göngutúr.

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What does heim contribute to the meaning, and how is it different from heima?

Heim and heima are both related to “home”, but they are used differently:

• heim = “home(wards)”, direction (going/moving to home)

  • Ég fer heim. – “I am going home.”
  • eftir langan göngutúr heim – “after a long walk home (towards home)”

• heima = “at home”, location (staying at home)

  • Ég er heima. – “I am at home.”
  • Hún var heima eftir göngutúrinn. – “She was at home after the walk.”

In the sentence, heim says that the walk was towards home, not just any walk.

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Could the word order be different, like Fóturinn hennar er eftir langan göngutúr þreyttur or Hennar fótur er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim?

• Fóturinn hennar er eftir langan göngutúr þreyttur

  • This sounds unnatural in ordinary Icelandic. Predicative adjectives (þreyttur) almost always come right after the verb er (“is”).
  • So er þreyttur eftir … is the normal order.

• Hennar fótur er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim

  • Grammatically possible, but it sounds marked / contrastive, as if you are emphasizing her as opposed to someone else:
    
    • “Her foot is tired after a long walk home (not his / not mine).”
  • The neutral, everyday word order is Fóturinn hennar er þreyttur ….

So the original sentence is the natural, unmarked word order.

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How would I say “my foot is tired after a long walk home”?

Replace hennar (“her”) with minn (“my”):

• Fóturinn minn er þreyttur eftir langan göngutúr heim.

Notes:

• fóturinn stays the same (masc. sg. definite).
• minn follows the usual pattern [noun] + [definite article] + [possessive after it].
• Everything else (cases, endings) stays exactly as in the original sentence.

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Is hennar always feminine “her”, and how would you say “his foot” or “their foot”?

Yes, hennar is the genitive of “hún” and is used for a female person (or grammatically feminine referent):

• fóturinn hennar – “her foot” (belonging to a woman / feminine person)

Other third‑person possessives of this same type:

• hans – “his” (belonging to a man)
  
  • fóturinn hans – “his foot”
• þeirra – “their” (belonging to them, any gender)
  
  • fóturinn þeirra – “their foot”

So you get:

• Fóturinn hans er þreyttur … – “His foot is tired …”
• Fóturinn þeirra er þreyttur … – “Their foot is tired …”