Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.

She draws herself on the page.

Breakdown of Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.

• hún: she
• á: on
• teikna: to draw
• blaðið: the page
• sig: themselves

Questions & Answers about Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.

Why do we use sig instead of hana in this sentence?

Sig is the Icelandic reflexive pronoun for third person (singular and plural). It means “herself / himself / itself / themselves” and it must refer back to the subject of the clause.

• Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.
  = She draws herself on(to) the paper.

If you used hana instead, it would no longer mean “herself”:

• Hún teiknar hana á blaðið.
  = She draws her (another woman) on(to) the paper.

So:

• sig = herself (referring back to hún)
• hana = her (some other female person, not the subject)

What is the literal, word‑for‑word breakdown of Hún teiknar sig á blaðið?

Word by word:

• Hún = she
• teiknar = draws (3rd person singular present of teikna “to draw”)
• sig = herself (reflexive pronoun, object of the verb)
• á = on / onto
• blaðið = the paper (blað “paper, sheet” + -ið definite ending)

So a close literal rendering is:

She draws herself onto the‑paper.

English would usually say on the paper, but the Icelandic case tells us it’s really “onto” (motion to a surface), not just “on” (location).

What form of the verb is teiknar, and what is the infinitive?

• The infinitive is teikna = to draw.
• Teiknar is the 3rd person singular present indicative form.

A small part of its present tense paradigm:

• ég teikna – I draw
• þú teiknar – you (sg) draw
• hann / hún / það teiknar – he / she / it draws
• við teiknum – we draw
• þið teiknið – you (pl) draw
• þeir / þær / þau teikna – they draw

So Hún teiknar = She draws / She is drawing (Icelandic doesn’t use a separate continuous tense here).

What case is sig in here, and why?

In Hún teiknar sig á blaðið, sig is in the accusative case.

• The verb teikna is a normal transitive verb: it takes a direct object in the accusative.
• Since the subject is drawing herself, we use the reflexive pronoun as the object: sig (accusative).

Compare:

• Hún teiknar mynd. – She draws a picture. (object: mynd, accusative)
• Hún teiknar sig. – She draws herself. (object: sig, accusative)

Why does blaðið have the ending -ið? What does that mean?

Blaðið is blað (paper, sheet) with a suffixed definite article:

• blað = a paper / a sheet (indefinite, neuter singular)
• blaðið = the paper / the sheet (definite, neuter singular accusative or nominative)

Icelandic usually attaches the definite article as an ending instead of using a separate word like the.

So:

• á blað – (rare, usually incomplete phrase) on(to) a sheet
• á blaðið – on(to) the sheet / the paper

In this sentence the object is definite: she’s drawing herself on the (specific) paper.

Why is it á blaðið and not á blaðinu here? What is the difference?

The preposition á (“on, onto”) can take accusative or dative, and the choice changes the meaning:

• á + accusative → motion towards / onto something
• á + dative → location on something (no movement)

So:

• Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.

  • blaðið = accusative → motion onto the paper
  • Implies: she is drawing herself onto the sheet (putting the drawing on it).

• Hún er á blaðinu.

  • blaðinu = dative → location on the paper
  • Means: She is on the paper (already there, no motion).

In the drawing sentence, you are putting something on the paper, so accusative (á blaðið) is used.

Could the word order be different, like Hún teiknar á blaðið sig?

Normal, natural word order is:

Subject – Verb – Object – (Prepositional phrase)
Hún – teiknar – sig – á blaðið.

Putting sig after á blaðið (Hún teiknar á blaðið sig) is ungrammatical in standard Icelandic.

You can, however, insert adverbs between elements:

• Hún teiknar sig oft á blaðið. – She often draws herself on the paper.
• Hún teiknar sig stundum á blaðið. – She sometimes draws herself on the paper.

But the object pronoun (sig) normally stays directly after the verb (before most prepositional phrases).

How would I say “She draws her” (another woman) instead of “She draws herself”?

Change the reflexive pronoun sig to the normal 3rd‑person feminine object hana:

• Hún teiknar sig á blaðið.
  = She draws herself on the paper.

• Hún teiknar hana á blaðið.
  = She draws her (another woman) on the paper.

Similarly:

• Hún teiknar hann á blaðið. – She draws him on the paper.
• Hún teiknar það á blaðið. – She draws it on the paper.

The key idea:

• sig → subject and object are the same person.
• hana / hann / það → subject and object are different people/things.

How would the sentence change if the subject were male, or if it were plural?

The reflexive pronoun sig does not change for gender or number in 3rd person. Only the subject pronoun and the verb form change.

Singular:

• Hann teiknar sig á blaðið. – He draws himself on the paper.
• Hún teiknar sig á blaðið. – She draws herself on the paper.

Plural:

• Þeir teikna sig á blaðið. – They (all male / mixed) draw themselves on the paper.
• Þær teikna sig á blaðið. – They (all female) draw themselves on the paper.
• Þau teikna sig á blaðið. – They (neuter / mixed group) draw themselves on the paper.

So sig is the same in all those; teiknar/teikna and the subject pronoun change.

How would I say this sentence in the past and future tenses?

The verb changes tense; the pronouns and the rest stay the same.

• Present:
  Hún teiknar sig á blaðið. – She draws / is drawing herself on the paper.

• Past (simple):
  Hún teiknaði sig á blaðið. – She drew herself on the paper.

• Future:
  Common spoken future uses munu

  • infinitive:
    Hún mun teikna sig á blaðið. – She will draw herself on the paper.

The reflexive sig and the phrase á blaðið don’t change with tense.

How are the words in Hún teiknar sig á blaðið pronounced approximately?

Very roughly (English‑friendly approximation):

• Hún – like “hoon” [huːn]
• teiknar – roughly “tayk-nar” [ˈtʰeiknar]
• sig – approx. “sihg” with a short i [sɪɣ]
• á – like “ow” in “cow” [auː]
• blaðið – roughly “blath-ith”:
  
  • blað [plaθ] with a soft ð sound at the end,
  • -ið [ɪð] as “ith” with soft ð again.

Stress is on the first syllable of the word teiknar and blaðið (Icelandic almost always stresses the first syllable of each word).

Can Icelandic drop the subject pronoun here, like Spanish (“teiknar sig á blaðið”)?

No. Standard Icelandic is not a “null‑subject” (pro‑drop) language like Spanish or Italian. You normally must include the subject pronoun:

• Hún teiknar sig á blaðið. – correct
• Teiknar sig á blaðið. – incomplete / only possible in very special contexts (e.g. imperative‑like, headlines, or after ellipsis).

So in normal sentences you should keep hún / hann / þau, etc., explicitly.