Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna.

His nose is often cold in the winters.

Breakdown of Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna.

• vera: to be
• kaldur: cold
• á: in
• oft: often
• veturinn: the winter
• hans: his
• nefið: the nose

Questions & Answers about Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna.

Why is it Nefið hans and not Hans nef?

In Icelandic, 3rd‑person possessive pronouns (hans = his, hennar = her, þeirra = their) usually come after the noun:

• hestur hans – his horse
• húsið hennar – her house
• Nefið hans – his nose

So:

• Nefið hans is the normal, neutral order.
• Hans nef is grammatical, but it sounds marked:
  • more formal, written, or poetic, or
  • with strong emphasis on his (as opposed to someone else’s):
    Hans nef er stærra en mitt. – HIS nose is bigger than mine.

For ordinary speech, Nefið hans is the standard phrasing.

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What does the ending -ið in Nefið mean?

The ending -ið is the definite article (“the”), attached to a neuter singular noun:

• nef – (a) nose
• nef-ið – the nose

Icelandic usually adds the article as a suffix:

• hús → húsið – the house (neuter)
• stóll → stóllinn – the chair (masc.)
• bók → bókin – the book (fem.)

So Nefið hans literally looks like “the nose his”, but it means “his nose”.

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Could I say Nef hans er oft kalt á veturna without the -ið?

It’s grammatically possible, but it’s not the usual way to talk about someone’s body parts.

With body parts, Icelandic strongly prefers the definite form plus the possessive:

• Höfuðið hans er stórt. – His head is big.
• Augun hennar eru þreytt. – Her eyes are tired.
• Nefið hans er oft kalt. – His nose is often cold.

Nef hans would sound less natural in this everyday sense.
The idiomatic choice here is Nefið hans.

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Why is the adjective kalt and not kaldur?

Adjectives in Icelandic agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun.

Base forms of “cold”:

• masculine: kaldur
• feminine: köld
• neuter: kalt

The noun nef (nose) is neuter. In the sentence:

• nef-ið is neuter, singular, nominative, so
• the predicate adjective must also be neuter, singular, nominative (strong) → kalt.

Compare:

• Nefið hans er oft kalt. – His nose (neuter) is often cold.
• Hundurinn hans er oft kaldur. – His dog (masc.) is often cold.
• Hendin hennar er oft köld. – Her hand (fem.) is often cold.

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What form is veturna in, and why is it used?

Veturna is accusative plural definite of vetur (winter).

Key forms:

• singular: vetur (nom/acc), vetri (dat), vetrar (gen)
• plural indefinite: vetur (nom/acc), vetrum (dat), vetra (gen)
• plural definite: veturnir (nom), veturna (acc), vetrunum (dat), vetranna (gen)

In time expressions, Icelandic very often uses “á + accusative plural definite”:

• á morgnana – in the mornings
• á kvöldin – in the evenings
• á sumrin – in the summers
• á veturna – in the winters → in winter / during wintertime

So á veturna literally is “on the winters”, but idiomatically means “in winter (as a season in general)”.

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Why does Icelandic use á here when English says “in winter”?

Prepositions don’t line up exactly between languages. In Icelandic, á is common where English uses in for time:

• á morgnana – in the mornings
• á sumrin – in the summers
• á síðasta ári – in the last year
• á veturna – in winter

So for the meaning “in winter (generally, every winter)”, the idiomatic phrase is á veturna, not í vetri or similar. It’s best to treat á veturna as a set expression you memorize.

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Can I say á veturnum instead of á veturna?

Á veturnum uses the dative plural definite. It’s not wrong, but it tends to suggest particular winters or appear in slightly different contexts.

Very roughly:

• á veturna (accusative plural definite):
  usual, neutral way to talk about winter as a recurring season:
  Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna. – Every winter, his nose is often cold.
• á veturnum (dative plural definite):
  can be used if you mean some specific winters or in more marked styles.

For a general habitual statement like this one, stick with á veturna.

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Where does the adverb oft usually go? Could I move it?

The neutral position for oft (often) is right after the finite verb:

• Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna.

Other positions are possible but change emphasis:

• Oft er nefið hans kalt á veturna. – Emphasis on how often (OFTEN his nose is cold…).
• Nefið hans er kalt oft á veturna. – Possible, but sounds less natural as a default.

As a learner, a safe rule: put frequency adverbs like oft after the verb.

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How would you say “Their noses are often cold in winter”?

You need to make noun, verb, adjective, and possessive all plural:

• nef → nefin – the noses (neuter plural definite)
• hans → þeirra – their
• er → eru – are
• kalt → köld – cold (neuter plural)

The sentence:

• Nefin þeirra eru oft köld á veturna.
  Their noses are often cold in winter.

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What is the difference between hans and sitt here? Could I say Nefið sitt er oft kalt á veturna?

Icelandic has:

1. Non‑reflexive possessives – hans, hennar, þeirra
   Used when the possessor is not necessarily the subject of the same clause, or you just state ownership.

2. Reflexive possessive – sinn, sín, sitt (and its other cases)
   Used when the possessor is the subject of the same clause and you mean “his own / her own / their own”.

Your sentence by itself:

• Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna.
  Simply: His nose is often cold in winter. (The owner is some “he”.)

You can say:

• Honum finnst nefið sitt oft kalt á veturna.
  He feels that his own nose is often cold in winter.

Here sitt clearly refers back to honum / hann (him).
Without such a subject in the clause, Nefið sitt er oft kalt á veturna is odd on its own; Nefið hans… is the normal form.

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How do you pronounce “Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna”?

An approximate IPA transcription (standard Reykjavík pronunciation):

• Nefið hans er oft kalt á veturna
  [ˈnɛːvɪð hans ɛr ɔft kʰalt auː ˈvɛːtʏrna]

Piece by piece:

• Nefið – [ˈnɛːvɪð] (long e, soft ð like th in this)
• hans – [hans]
• er – [ɛr]
• oft – [ɔft] (short o like in off)
• kalt – [kʰalt] (aspirated k)
• á – [auː] (like English ow in cow)
• veturna – [ˈvɛːtʏrna] (stress on ve‑, short rounded ʏ in the second syllable)

Stress in Icelandic is always on the first syllable of each word, so main word stresses are on NE‑fið, HANS, ER, OFT, KALT, Á, VE‑turna.