Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hann hittir kærustuna sína og hún hittir kærastann sinn eftir vinnu. - He meets his girlfriend and she meets her boyfriend after work.

In the sentence, both subjects (hann and hún) are 3rd person singular, so we use hittir for both, regardless of gender. Icelandic verbs agree with person and number, but not with gender.

Why is it kærustuna and kærastann, not just kærasta and kærasti?

Because they are direct objects of the verb hitta, which takes the accusative case, and they are also definite (his the girlfriend / her the boyfriend).

Kærasta (girlfriend – nominative singular, indefinite)
- Accusative singular indefinite: kærustu
- Accusative singular definite: kærustuna (kærustu
  - definite ending -na)
Kærasti (boyfriend – nominative singular, indefinite)
- Accusative singular indefinite: kærasta
- Accusative singular definite: kærastann (kærasta
  - definite ending -nn → spelled -nn, pronounced /tan/)

So:

Hann hittir kærustuna sína
→ He meets *the girlfriend (his own)*
hún hittir kærastann sinn
→ She meets *the boyfriend (her own)*

You need the accusative because of hitta, and the definite ending because we are talking about a specific, known partner.

What is the difference between sína and sinn here?

They are both forms of the same reflexive possessive pronoun sinn / sín / sitt, which means “his/her/its own” or “their own”, referring back to the subject of the same clause.

The form changes with gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies, not according to the owner’s gender:

With kærustuna (girlfriend – feminine, accusative singular):
- Feminine accusative singular form is sína → kærustuna sína
With kærastann (boyfriend – masculine, accusative singular):
- Masculine accusative singular form is sinn → kærastann sinn

So:

sína = her own / his own (feminine object, here: girlfriend)
sinn = her own / his own (masculine object, here: boyfriend)

What matters is the noun being possessed (kærustuna / kærastann), not whether the subject is male or female.

Why do we use sína / sinn instead of hennar or hans?

Icelandic distinguishes between:

Reflexive possessive: sinn / sín / sitt
- Always refers back to the subject of the same clause
- Means “his/her/its/their own”
Non‑reflexive possessives: hans (his), hennar (her), þeirra (their), etc.
- Refer to someone else, not the subject of that clause.

In the sentence:

Hann hittir kærustuna sína
→ He meets his own girlfriend (his girlfriend, not someone else’s)
Hún hittir kærastann sinn
→ She meets her own boyfriend (her boyfriend, not someone else’s)

If you said:

Hann hittir kærustuna hans
it would normally mean “He meets his (another man’s) girlfriend.”
Hún hittir kærastann hennar
would usually mean “She meets her (another woman’s) boyfriend.”

So sína / sinn here is used to make it clear each person is meeting their own partner.

Why is the possessive after the noun (kærustuna sína) instead of before it like in English?

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns can appear:

Before the noun:
- mín kærasta – my girlfriend
- hennar kærasti – her boyfriend
After the noun (post‑nominal):
- kærastan minn – my boyfriend
- kærustuna sína – his/her own girlfriend

The reflexive possessive sinn / sín / sitt is normally used after the noun:

kærustuna sína (not sína kærusta in this meaning)
kærastann sinn

So the order noun + “own” is the standard pattern with sinn / sín / sitt.

What exactly are the genders of kærasta and kærasti, and how do they decline?

Kærasta = girlfriend
- Gender: feminine
- Singular (indefinite):
  - Nom: kærasta
  - Acc: kærustu
  - Dat: kærustu
  - Gen: kærustu
- Singular (definite):
  - Nom: kærastan
  - Acc: kærastuna
  - Dat: kærustunni
  - Gen: kærastunnar
Kærasti = boyfriend
- Gender: masculine
- Singular (indefinite):
  - Nom: kærasti
  - Acc: kærasta
  - Dat: kærasta
  - Gen: kærasta
- Singular (definite):
  - Nom: kærastinn
  - Acc: kærastann
  - Dat: kærastanum
  - Gen: kærastans

In the sentence, both are definite accusative singular:

kærustuna
kærastann

What case is vinnu in, and why does it have that form?

Vinnu is in the accusative singular of vinna (work).

Nominative: vinna
Accusative: vinnu
Dative: vinnu
Genitive: vinnu

The preposition eftir can govern the accusative (especially with a time meaning “after X”) and here it does:

eftir vinnu = after work (lit. “after work-ACC”)

We also leave vinna indefinite here (no article), because English “after work” likewise usually refers to work in general, not the specific work:

eftir vinnu → after work (generic)
eftir vinnuna → after the work (more specific task, the particular work)

Could I move eftir vinnu to the front, like Eftir vinnu hittir hann…?

Yes. Icelandic allows fairly free movement of adverbials like eftir vinnu, but it still tends to keep the verb in second position (the V2 rule).

For example, all of these are fine:

Eftir vinnu hittir hann kærustuna sína og hún hittir kærastann sinn.
Hann hittir kærustuna sína eftir vinnu og hún hittir kærastann sinn.
Hann hittir kærustuna sína og eftir vinnu hittir hún kærastann sinn.

If an element other than the subject goes first (like Eftir vinnu), the finite verb (hittir) usually comes next, and the subject (hann) follows it.

Could I replace the whole thing with something like Hann og hún hittast eftir vinnu?

Yes, that would be a natural alternative, but the meaning shifts slightly.

hittast is the -st form of hitta, and it usually means “to meet each other” (reciprocal) or simply “meet”.

So:

Hann og hún hittast eftir vinnu.
→ He and she meet (each other) after work.

Original sentence:

Hann hittir kærustuna sína og hún hittir kærastann sinn eftir vinnu.
Stresses that each meets their own partner (we have four people: he, his girlfriend, she, her boyfriend).

So hittast would be used if the two subjects are meeting one another, instead of each meeting somebody else.

How would the meaning change if I used hans or hennar instead of sinn / sína?

It would typically stop being reflexive and start referring to someone else:

Hann hittir kærustuna hans.
→ Normally understood as He meets *his (some other man’s) girlfriend.*
Hann hittir kærustuna hennar.
→ He meets *her (some other woman’s) girlfriend.*
Hún hittir kærastann hans.
→ She meets *his boyfriend (some man’s boyfriend).*
Hún hittir kærastann hennar.
→ She meets *her boyfriend (some other woman’s boyfriend).*

The reflexive forms in the original:

kærustuna sína
kærastann sinn

tell you explicitly that each partner is their own.

Can sinn / sín / sitt ever refer to something other than the subject?

By default, no: sinn / sín / sitt is defined as referring to the grammatical subject of its own clause.

In coordinated sentences like this:

Hann hittir kærustuna sína og hún hittir kærastann sinn…

each sín‑form refers to the nearest subject in its own clause:

sína → refers to hann (in the first clause)
sinn → refers to hún (in the second clause)

If you need to refer clearly to somebody else’s partner, you switch to hans / hennar / þeirra etc., not sinn / sín / sitt.

How are the double consonants in hittir, kærastann, kærustuna pronounced?

In Icelandic, double consonants usually mean the consonant is geminated (held a bit longer) and that the preceding vowel is short.

Approximate guides:

hittir: hit-tir
- Short i in hit
- Clear tt (like hot‑tire said quickly, but with a single t sound held a bit)
kærastann: kæ-ra-stann
- Final -ann with nn held slightly longer
kærustuna: kæ-ru-stu-na
- The tt is not there, but st cluster; nn in kærastann is where gemination happens.

The key point: double consonants mainly affect vowel length (short before double consonants) and make the consonant sound a bit longer or tenser compared to a single consonant.