Breakdown of Kennarinn sýnir okkur verkefnið.
verkefnið
the project
kennarinn
the teacher
okkur
us
sýna
to show
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn sýnir okkur verkefnið.
Why is it Kennarinn and not kennari?
Icelandic doesn’t use a separate word for “the”. Instead, it sticks a definite article ending onto the noun.
- kennari = a teacher (indefinite)
- kennarinn = the teacher (definite, nominative singular masculine)
So -inn is the masculine definite ending in the nominative singular. The sentence needs “the teacher”, so it uses Kennarinn.
What is the verb’s basic form, and why is it sýnir here?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is að sýna = to show.
Icelandic verbs change their ending according to the subject. For að sýna in the present tense:
- ég sýni – I show
- þú sýnir – you (sg.) show
- hann / hún / það sýnir – he / she / it shows
- við sýnum – we show
- þið sýnið – you (pl.) show
- þeir / þær / þau sýna – they show
The subject Kennarinn is 3rd person singular, so the verb must be sýnir.
Why do we use okkur and not við for “us / we”?
Icelandic has different forms for subject and , like English vs. , but with more case marking.