Barnið situr á gólfinu og les bók.

the child

Breakdown of Barnið situr á gólfinu og les bók.

• bókin: the book
• lesa: to read
• á: on

Questions & Answers about Barnið situr á gólfinu og les bók.

What does each word in Barnið situr á gólfinu og les bók correspond to in English?

Word by word, very literally:

• Barnið – the child
• situr – sits / is sitting
• á – on
• gólfinu – the floor (in the dative case)
• og – and
• les – reads / is reading
• bók – a book (accusative case, but Icelandic has no word for a)

So structurally it is: The-child sits on floor-the and reads book.

Why is it Barnið and not just barn for the child?

Icelandic does not use a separate word for the in most cases. Instead, the definite article is a suffix attached to the noun.

• barn – child
• barnið – the child

The ending -ið is the definite article for a neuter singular noun in the nominative case here.
Pattern (neuter, nominative singular):

• hus – house → húsið – the house
• barn – child → barnið – the child