Stelpan lærir á píanó.

the girl

Breakdown of Stelpan lærir á píanó.

• læra á: to learn to play
• píanó: the piano

Questions & Answers about Stelpan lærir á píanó.

Why is it stelpan and not stelpa?

Stelpa is the basic dictionary form (the nominative singular, indefinite) and means “girl”.

Icelandic does not have a separate word for “the”. Instead, it usually adds a definite article ending to the noun:

• stelpa = a girl
• stelpan = the girl

So in Stelpan lærir á píanó, stelpan means “the girl” and is the subject of the sentence.

What case is stelpan in, and why?

Stelpan is in the nominative case.

The nominative is used for the subject of the sentence — the person or thing doing the action. Here, the girl is the one doing the learning, so she is in the nominative:

• Stelpan (nom.) + lærir (verb) + á píanó (object phrase)

What is the infinitive of lærir, and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive (dictionary form) is að læra = “to learn”.

Present tense (indicative) conjugation:

• ég læri – I learn
• þú lærir – you (singular) learn
• hann / hún / það lærir – he / she / it learns
• við lærum – we learn
• þið lærið – you (plural) learn
• þeir / þær / þau læra – they learn

In Stelpan lærir á píanó, stelpan is 3rd person singular (she), so the verb is lærir.