Fuglarnir sitja í trénu og syngja á morgnana.

to sing

Breakdown of Fuglarnir sitja í trénu og syngja á morgnana.

• í: in
• sitja: to sit
• og: and

Questions & Answers about Fuglarnir sitja í trénu og syngja á morgnana.

How is “the” expressed in this sentence? I don’t see a separate word like the.

Icelandic does not usually have a separate word for “the”.
Instead, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun as a suffix.

In this sentence:

• fuglar = birds
  fuglarnir = the birds ( -nir is the definite plural ending)
• tré = tree
  trénu = in the tree ( -nu is the dative singular definite ending)
• morgnar / morgna = mornings
  morgnana = the mornings (here: accusative plural definite)

So “the” is built into fuglarnir, trénu, and morgnana rather than being a separate word.

What is the difference between fuglar and fuglarnir?

Both come from the noun fugl (bird):

• fuglar = birds (indefinite, just “birds” in general)
• fuglarnir = the birds (definite, a specific group, or birds that are known from context)

So:

• Fuglar sitja í trénu…
  could mean Birds sit in the tree… (some birds, unspecified)

• Fuglarnir sitja í trénu…
  means The birds sit in the tree… (we assume the listener knows which birds).