Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.

She misses her family when she travels alone.

Breakdown of Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.

• hún: she
• þegar: when
• fjölskylda: the family
• sinn: her
• ferðast: to travel
• sakna: to miss
• ein: alone

Questions & Answers about Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.

Why is fjölskyldunnar sinnar in the genitive case after saknar, and why is there no preposition like of?

In Icelandic, the verb sakna (to miss, to long for) always takes its object in the genitive case, and it does not use a preposition.

• Infinitive: að sakna
• 3rd person singular present: hún saknar

The noun phrase that is missed must be in the genitive:

• Ég sakna fjölskyldu minnar. – I miss my family.
• Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar. – She misses her family.

So:

• fjölskyldunnar = genitive singular definite of fjölskylda (family)
• sinnar = genitive singular feminine of sinn (her own)

No extra word like of is inserted; the case ending on the noun does the job that a preposition might do in English.

Why is it sinnar and not hennar for her?

Icelandic has a special reflexive possessive pronoun sinn that is used when the possessor is the subject of the same clause.

• sinn / sín / sitt (nom.) → sinnar is one of its genitive forms.

In this sentence:

• Subject: Hún (she)
• Possession: fjölskyldunnar sinnar (her own family)

Because the family belongs to the same she that is the subject, you must use sinnar, not hennar.

Contrast:

• Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar.
  – She misses her own family.
• Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar hennar.
  – She misses her family (another woman’s family, not her own).

So sinn- always refers back to the subject; hennar refers to some other female person.

What exactly is going on inside the phrase fjölskyldunnar sinnar?

It is one noun in the genitive, with a definite ending, plus a reflexive possessive that agrees with it in gender, number, and case.

• fjölskylda – family (feminine noun, nominative singular, indefinite)
• Genitive singular indefinite: fjölskyldu
• Genitive singular definite: fjölskyldunnar

So:

• fjölskyldunnar = the family’s / of the family (genitive, definite)

Now add the possessive sinn, which must match:

• fjölskylda is feminine, singular, genitive, so we choose sinnar:
  • masculine gen. sg.: síns
  • feminine gen. sg.: sinnar
  • neuter gen. sg.: síns

Therefore:

• fjölskyldunnar sinnar = of her own family / her (own) family
  (literally: of-the-family her-own)

Why does fjölskyldunnar have the definite ending -unnar if there is already a possessive sinnar? Is that double definiteness?

Yes, this is a case of double definiteness: a definite noun plus a possessive pronoun.

• Definite noun: fjölskyldunnar (the family’s)
• Possessive: sinnar (her own)

You can also say:

• Hún saknar fjölskyldu sinnar.

This version is grammatically fine and a bit more “textbook”: fjölskyldu is genitive singular indefinite, and sinnar adds the possessive meaning; the whole phrase is understood as her family.

Using fjölskyldunnar sinnar with the definite ending is common in everyday Icelandic and feels slightly more specific or emphatic, like her own (particular) family. Both patterns exist:

• fjölskyldu sinnar – more neutral, no definite ending
• fjölskyldunnar sinnar – more colloquial / specific: her (own) family

Could we change the word order and say Hún saknar sinnar fjölskyldu instead of fjölskyldunnar sinnar?

Yes, Icelandic allows both word orders:

• fjölskyldunnar sinnar
• sinnar fjölskyldu(r) (with the right case ending)

However:

1. Noun + possessive is by far the most common order:

   • fjölskyldu sinnar or fjölskyldunnar sinnar

2. Possessive + noun (sinnar fjölskyldu) is possible but usually feels more marked or emphatic, and you must still keep the genitive:

   • Here it would be sinnar fjölskyldu (not nominative).

So:

• Most natural: Hún saknar fjölskyldu sinnar / fjölskyldunnar sinnar.
• Less typical, more emphatic: Hún saknar sinnar fjölskyldu.

Why is it ein at the end, not eina or einn?

The word einn can mean one, but it is also used in the sense alone. Like an adjective, it must agree with the subject in gender, number, and case.

The subject is hún:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative (subject of ferðast)

The nominative singular forms of einn:

• masculine: einn
• feminine: ein
• neuter: eitt

So we need:

• hún … ein – she … alone

Other forms you might see in different contexts:

• Ég sé eina konu. – I see one woman.
  (eina = feminine accusative singular, because it is object, not subject.)

What is the difference between ferðast and fara / fer? Why do we use ferðast here?

• að fara – to go, to leave, to travel (very general motion verb)

  • 3rd person sing. present: fer

• að ferðast – to travel (as an activity, e.g. going on trips, journeys)

  • 3rd person sing. present: ferðast

ferðast is one of the many Icelandic -st verbs. Historically these endings come from a reflexive pronoun, but ferðast is now just learned as a normal intransitive verb meaning to travel.

In this sentence:

• þegar hún ferðast ein = when she travels alone, describing the activity (for work, holidays, etc.), not just the act of going from A to B once. That is why ferðast is more natural here than fer.

Why do we use the present tense (saknar, ferðast) if the meaning is something like “whenever she travels alone”?

Icelandic, like English, can use the present tense to express:

• general truths
• repeated / habitual actions

So:

• Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.
  literally: She misses her family when she travels alone.

This is understood as a habitual: every time she travels alone, she misses them. If you wanted to talk about a single specific trip in the past, you would switch to the past tense:

• Hún saknaði fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðaðist ein.
  – She missed her family when she travelled alone. (on that occasion)

How does the clause with þegar work? Is the word order special, and where would a comma go if I put that clause first?

þegar is a subordinating conjunction meaning when (in a temporal sense).

The subordinate clause here is:

• þegar hún ferðast ein – when she travels alone

Inside a þegar-clause, word order is Subject – Verb – (other stuff), just like in a normal statement:

• hún ferðast ein

You can change the order of the two clauses:

1. Main clause first (no comma in modern Icelandic style):

   • Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.

2. Subordinate clause first, then main clause, usually with a comma:

   • Þegar hún ferðast ein, saknar hún fjölskyldunnar sinnar.

Both orders are correct; only the emphasis and rhythm change slightly.

Do we have to repeat hún in þegar hún ferðast ein, or could it be left out?

You must repeat hún. Icelandic does not generally allow subject-pronoun dropping the way some languages do.

So:

• Correct: Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar hún ferðast ein.
• Incorrect: *Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar þegar ferðast ein.

Every finite clause needs an explicit subject (unless there is some special impersonal construction like mig langar, mér er kalt, etc.). Here, the þegar-clause is its own clause with its own verb, so it needs its own subject hún.

What is the difference between að sakna and að vanta? Both sometimes translate as to miss in English.

They cover different meanings of English miss.

1. að sakna

   • genitive – to miss emotionally, to long for someone or something
   • Ég sakna þín. – I miss you.
   • Hún saknar fjölskyldunnar sinnar. – She misses her family.

2. að vanta – to lack, to be missing, to need (something is absent)
   It normally appears as an impersonal verb:

   • Mig vantar peninga. – I need money / I am missing money.
     (literally: me-ACC lacks money-NOM)
   • Það vantar einu skápinn. – One cupboard is missing.

So in this sentence, we are talking about her emotional feeling of missing her family, so saknar is the right verb, not vantar.