Questions & Answers about Ég elska hárið þitt.
What does each word in Ég elska hárið þitt literally mean?
Word by word:
- Ég = I (1st person singular subject pronoun, nominative case)
- elska = love (verb að elska, here in 1st person singular present: I love)
- hárið = the hair (hár = hair, -ið = the, neuter singular definite ending)
- þitt = your (possessive pronoun for you singular, neuter singular form)
So the literal structure is: I love the hair yours → “I love your hair.”
Icelandic word order here is Subject–Verb–Object, same as English.
Why is it hárið and not just hár?
Because Icelandic normally makes “your X” definite when the possessive comes after the noun.
- hár = hair (indefinite)
- hárið = the hair (definite; hár
- -ið)
With a postposed possessive (þitt after the noun), you usually use the definite form:
- hárið þitt = your hair (literally: the hair of yours)
If you used just hár þitt, it would sound incorrect or at least very odd in normal modern Icelandic.