Sonur bóndans elskar hestana og leikur sér með þeim á hverjum degi.

The farmer's son loves the horses and plays with them every day.

Breakdown of Sonur bóndans elskar hestana og leikur sér með þeim á hverjum degi.

• elska: to love
• dagurinn: the day
• með: with
• á: on

Questions & Answers about Sonur bóndans elskar hestana og leikur sér með þeim á hverjum degi.

Why is sonur not sonurinn, even though in English we say “the farmer’s son”?

In Icelandic, when a noun is directly followed by a possessor in the genitive (like bóndans), that noun is normally left indefinite in form, even though the whole phrase is definite in meaning.

• sonur bóndans literally: son of-the farmer
  → understood as the farmer’s son

If you said sonurinn bóndans, it would sound odd or overly marked, a bit like saying “the son the farmer’s” in English.

So:

• The possessive/genitive construction itself makes the phrase definite, and you do not need (and usually don’t use) the definite ending -inn on sonur here.

What exactly is going on with bóndans? Why doesn’t it just stay bóndi?