Breakdown of Leiðbeinandinn sendir okkur hljóðbók eftir hverja kennslustund.
Questions & Answers about Leiðbeinandinn sendir okkur hljóðbók eftir hverja kennslustund.
The ending -inn is the definite article (the) attached to the noun.
- leiðbeinandi = a tutor / instructor
- leiðbeinandinn = the tutor / the instructor
In Icelandic, the is usually not a separate word; it is added as a suffix:
- bók → bókin (the book)
- nemandi → nemandinn (the student)
- leiðbeinandi → leiðbeinandinn (the tutor)
Sendir is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb að senda (to send).
- Infinitive: að senda
- He/she/it sends: hann/hún/það sendir
We use the present tense here because this is a general, repeated action:
- Leiðbeinandinn sendir okkur hljóðbók eftir hverja kennslustund.
= The tutor sends us an audiobook after each lesson (habitually, every time).
Okkur means us and is the dative plural of við (we).
The verb senda (to send) normally has:
- a direct object in the accusative (what is sent)
- an indirect object in the dative (to whom it is sent)
In this sentence:
- hljóðbók (audiobook) = direct object (accusative)
- okkur (to us) = indirect object (dative)
So grammatically it’s:
leiðbeinandinn (subject, nominative)
sendir (verb)
okkur (indirect object, dative)
hljóðbók (direct object, accusative)
Hljóðbók means an audiobook (indefinite), while hljóðbókin would mean the audiobook (definite).
The Icelandic sentence talks about what the tutor sends each time in a general way, not about one specific known audiobook, so the indefinite form fits better:
- sendir okkur hljóðbók = sends us an audiobook
- sendir okkur hljóðbókina = sends us the audiobook (some specific one already known in the context)
Grammatically, hljóðbók here is in the accusative singular as the direct object.
In this context, eftir means after (in time).
Eftir can be followed by different cases depending on meaning, but in time expressions like after each lesson, the noun phrase is usually in the accusative.
- hverja = feminine accusative singular of hver (each/every)
- kennslustund = lesson/class, here also accusative singular
So eftir hverja kennslustund literally is after each lesson, with kennslustund (a feminine noun) in the accusative, and hverja agreeing with it.
Hver is a pronoun/adjective that declines for gender, number, and case to agree with the noun it describes.
Here it modifies kennslustund, which is:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: accusative (because of eftir in this time expression)
So we use the feminine accusative singular form:
- masculine acc. sg.: hvern
- neuter acc. sg.: hvert
- feminine acc. sg.: hverja
Therefore: eftir hverja kennslustund = after each lesson.
Kennslustund is a compound noun:
- kennsla = teaching / instruction
- stund = hour / period / time
Put together, kennslustund literally means something like teaching-time, and in practice just means a class or a lesson.
In the sentence, kennslustund is in the accusative singular, governed by eftir:
- nominative: kennslustund
- accusative: kennslustund (same form for this word)
The most natural neutral order is:
- Verb – indirect object – direct object
→ sendir okkur hljóðbók
You can sometimes move elements around for emphasis, but not all orders sound equally natural. For example:
- Leiðbeinandinn sendir okkur hljóðbók… (neutral)
- Leiðbeinandinn sendir hljóðbók til okkar… (grammatical, but til okkar changes the feel; it’s more like “to us” as a prepositional phrase, and is less usual here than plain dative okkur)
For a learner, it’s best to treat [verb] + [dative pronoun] + [accusative noun] as the default pattern for verbs like senda (send), gefa (give), sýna (show), etc.
Both can be translated as teacher in some contexts, but they are not identical:
- kennari = teacher in the more formal or standard sense (school teacher, university lecturer, etc.)
- leiðbeinandi = instructor, tutor, supervisor, guide; often someone who guides you more individually (e.g. a thesis supervisor, a tutor, a coach, a guide in a course)
So leiðbeinandinn suggests more of a tutor/instructor role rather than a regular classroom teacher.
Icelandic present tense is quite flexible and can cover several English uses:
In this sentence, sendir is best understood as habitual present:
- Leiðbeinandinn sendir okkur hljóðbók eftir hverja kennslustund.
→ The tutor sends us an audiobook after each lesson (every time, as a rule).
Depending on context, Icelandic present can correspond to:
- simple present: he sends
- present progressive: he is sending
- or even a near-future meaning: he is going to send / he will send
Here, eftir hverja kennslustund clearly makes it a repeated, habitual action.
Very roughly, in an English-friendly approximation:
leiðbeinandinn
- leið ≈ “layth” (with a soft voiced th, as in this)
- beina ≈ “bay-na”
- ndinn ≈ “n-din” (short i, like din)
- Whole: something like “LAYTH-bay-nan-din” (with Icelandic vowels; this is just approximate)
hljóðbók
- hlj-: the h is pronounced before the l, a bit like blowing out air before saying lyo
- óð: roughly like English “oath”, but with a long ó and a soft ð (as in this)
- bók: like “boke” with a long o
- Whole: roughly “HLYO-th-boke” (again, this is an approximation)
For actual learning, listening to native audio is important, especially for sounds like ð, hlj-, and long vowels.