Questions & Answers about Eyjan er græn og hafið við hana er djúpt.
What does each Icelandic word correspond to in English, and what are the basic dictionary forms?
The sentence is:
Eyjan er græn og hafið við hana er djúpt.
Literal breakdown:
- Eyjan – the island
- Dictionary (base) form: eyja (island, feminine)
- er – is (3rd person singular of að vera – to be)
- græn – green (feminine singular form of the adjective grænn – green)
- og – and
- hafið – the sea / the ocean
- Dictionary form: haf (sea, neuter)
- við – by / next to / at (preposition; here it means by / next to)
- hana – her / it (object form; refers back to eyjan, the island)
- Dictionary (nominative) form: hún (she / it, feminine)
- er – is
- djúpt – deep (neuter singular form of djúpur – deep)
Natural English translation: The island is green and the sea by it is deep.
What grammatical gender are eyja and haf, and why does that matter?