Breakdown of Hún finnur sig frjálsari í skóginum.
Questions & Answers about Hún finnur sig frjálsari í skóginum.
The verb finna normally means to find (concrete or abstract).
When you add the reflexive pronoun sig (3rd person reflexive object), finna sig becomes an idiomatic expression meaning:
- to feel (in a certain way)
- more literally: to find oneself (to be) …
So Hún finnur sig frjálsari is literally She finds herself freer, and in natural English that becomes She feels freer.
Without sig, Hún finnur frjálsari… would mean She finds freer… which is ungrammatical / meaningless here because there is no object being found.
sig is:
- the 3rd person reflexive pronoun in the accusative case
- used when the subject and object refer to the same 3rd‑person entity
In Hún finnur sig frjálsari, both hún (she) and sig (herself) refer to the same person. So sig is the direct object of finnur and refers back to the subject.
Important: sig is only used for 3rd person (he/she/they). For 1st and 2nd person you use the normal object pronouns (e.g. ég finn mig – I find myself).
The reflexive paradigm is:
- Accusative: sig
- Dative: sér
- Genitive: sín (and the related possessives sinn / sín / sitt)
In this sentence:
- sig is the direct object of finnur, so it must be accusative.
- Therefore sig (not sér) is required.
- sína would be a possessive form (from sinn/sín/sitt), used like bókin sín (her own book), which is not the structure here.
So the verb + direct object pattern finnur sig forces the form sig.
finnur is:
- 3rd person singular
- present tense
- of the verb finna (to find).
Basic forms of finna (active voice):
- Infinitive: finna
- Present:
- ég finn
- þú finnur
- hann/hún/það finnur
- við finnum
- þið finnið
- þeir/þær/þau finna
- Past (preterite):
- ég fann
- þú fannst
- hann/hún/það fann
- við fundum
- þið funduð
- þeir/þær/þau fundu
In this sentence we need 3rd person singular present, so finnur is the correct form.
frjálsari is:
- the comparative degree of the adjective frjáls (free),
- used here as a predicative adjective, describing the subject.
Base adjective:
- Positive: frjáls (free)
- Comparative: frjálsari (freer)
- Superlative (attributive m.): frjálsastur (the freest, masculine)
In Hún finnur sig frjálsari, the structure is:
- subject: Hún
- verb: finnur
- reflexive object: sig
- predicative complement (describing sig/hún): frjálsari
So frjálsari is an adjective, not an adverb, and it agrees in gender/number with the person she finds herself to be (feminine singular, but the m/f form here is simply frjálsari).
Both are grammatically possible, but they differ in definiteness and nuance:
- í skóginum = in the forest (a specific or contextually known forest)
- skóginum is dative singular definite (with the suffixed article -num).
- í skógi = in a forest / in (some) forest in a more general or indefinite sense.
In the given sentence í skóginum suggests a particular forest, or “the forest” as a known environment where she feels freer.
skóginum is:
- dative singular, masculine, definite
- nominative singular: skógur (forest)
- dative singular: skógi
- dative singular definite: skóginum
The preposition í can take:
- accusative for motion into something:
- Hún fer í skóginn – She goes into the forest.
- dative for location inside something (no movement implied):
- Hún er í skóginum – She is in the forest.
In Hún finnur sig frjálsari í skóginum, the meaning is being in the forest (location), so í governs the dative, hence skóginum.
The natural word order is:
- Verb – weak pronoun – other complements
→ finnur sig frjálsari …
So Hún finnur sig frjálsari í skóginum is normal and idiomatic.
Hún finnur frjálsari sig í skóginum is unnatural and would sound wrong to native speakers. Weak pronouns like sig are normally placed immediately after the finite verb unless there is some special emphasis or inversion pattern (which is not the case here).
You can say Hún er frjálsari í skóginum, and it is grammatically correct:
- Hún er frjálsari í skóginum = She is freer in the forest.
Difference in nuance:
- Hún er frjálsari… states it as a fact about her in that environment.
- Hún finnur sig frjálsari… stresses her subjective feeling / experience: she feels herself to be freer there.
Both might translate as She feels freer in the forest, but finnur sig keeps the sense that this is her own perception rather than an objective statement.
No. Without sig, the sentence becomes incorrect:
- finnur is a verb that normally requires an object: you find something.
- In this structure, that “something” is sig (herself).
Hún finnur frjálsari í skóginum lacks an object and sounds like She finds freer in the forest, which does not work. You need sig (or some other object) for the sentence to be grammatical and meaningful.
For they, you change both the subject pronoun, the verb, and possibly the adjective agreement:
- Þær finna sig frjálsari í skóginum. – They (fem.) feel freer in the forest.
- Þeir finna sig frjálsari í skóginum. – They (masc.) feel freer in the forest.
- Þau finna sig frjálsari í skóginum. – They (neut., mixed group) feel freer in the forest.
Changes:
- Hún finnur → Þeir/þær/þau finna (3rd person plural present)
- The reflexive sig stays the same in 3rd person plural.
- frjálsari also stays the same form here (comparative m/f nominative/plural predicative context doesn’t show an extra ending in this position).
Literal, word‑for‑word:
- Hún – She
- finnur – finds
- sig – herself
- frjálsari – freer
- í skóginum – in the forest
So a close literal rendering is:
- She finds herself freer in the forest.
In natural English, we more commonly say:
- She feels freer in the forest.
Because in English feel is the usual verb used for internal states and experiences, it is the most idiomatic translation of finna sig in this context.