Við tölum um aldurinn hans.

we

Breakdown of Við tölum um aldurinn hans.

• um: about
• tala: to talk
• hans: his

Questions & Answers about Við tölum um aldurinn hans.

What does each word in Við tölum um aldurinn hans correspond to in English?

• Við = we
• tölum = (we) talk / are talking – present tense, 1st person plural of tala “to speak, to talk”
• um = about (also “around”, “over”, etc. in other contexts, but here = about)
• aldurinn = the age (from aldur “age” + -inn definite article “the”)
• hans = his (non‑reflexive masculine possessive pronoun)

So the whole sentence is literally: We talk about the age his, which in natural English is: We talk about his age.

Why is it aldurinn and not just aldur?

Aldurinn has the definite article attached as a suffix:

• aldur = age
• aldurinn = the age

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun (and often to an accompanying adjective), not as a separate word like “the” in English. So:

• aldur – age
• aldurinn – the age

In this sentence, aldurinn sounds like you are talking about a specific, known age (his age in this situation), rather than age in general. English translates both as “his age”, but Icelandic shows the specificity with -inn.