Breakdown of Hún setur trefil um hálsinn þegar vindurinn er kaldur.
Questions & Answers about Hún setur trefil um hálsinn þegar vindurinn er kaldur.
Setja is the infinitive (to put / to place).
In the sentence we need the 3rd person singular, present tense:
- infinitive: setja – to put
- ég set – I put
- þú setur – you (sg.) put
- hann / hún / það setur – he / she / it puts
- við setjum – we put
- þið setjið – you (pl.) put
- þeir / þær / þau setja – they put
Because the subject is hún (she), you use setur:
Hún setur… = She puts…
The noun trefill (a scarf) is masculine and changes its form by case:
- Nominative (subject): trefill
- Accusative (direct object): trefil
- Dative: treflinum
- Genitive: trefils
In the sentence, the scarf is the direct object of the verb setur (she puts what? → a scarf), so it must be in the accusative:
- Hún setur trefil… = She puts a scarf…
That’s why you see trefil, not trefill.
Um is a preposition that, among other meanings, can mean around when used with the accusative case.
- um
- accusative ⇒ around [part of the body / object]
Hálsinn is háls (neck) with the definite ending -inn: the neck.
So:
- um hálsinn = around the neck (here understood as around her neck).
The preposition um here governs the accusative, so háls appears as hálsinn (accusative definite form).
Icelandic often uses the definite article (a suffix on the noun) instead of a possessive pronoun when it’s clear whose body part it is.
- um hálsinn literally: around the neck
- in context: around *her neck*
Using a possessive pronoun is possible but sounds more marked or contrastive:
- um háls hennar – more like around her neck (as opposed to someone else’s).
In neutral contexts like getting dressed, Icelandic normally prefers:
- um hálsinn, á höndina, á fótinn, etc.
So the neck in Icelandic corresponds to her neck in natural English in this kind of sentence.
The ending -inn is the masculine singular definite article attached to the noun.
- háls = neck
hálsinn = the neck
- vindur = wind
- vindurinn = the wind
Icelandic usually attaches the article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the:
- hestur → hesturinn (the horse)
- maður → maðurinn (the man)
So hálsinn and vindurinn are both definite forms.
After um in the meaning around, the noun must be in the accusative.
The noun háls declines as:
- Nominative: háls / hálsinn (the neck)
- Accusative: háls / hálsinn (the neck)
- Dative: hálsi / hálsinum
- Genitive: háls / hálsins
For this word, the nominative and accusative definite forms are identical (hálsinn), so you can’t see the difference in form.
But grammatically, in um hálsinn, it is accusative, required by the preposition um.
Both are grammatical; they just say slightly different things.
þegar vindurinn er kaldur
- literally: when *the wind is cold*
- Focus: the wind itself is cold.
þegar það er kalt
- literally: when it is cold
- More general: the weather/temperature is cold (not specifically mentioning the wind).
In the example sentence, vindurinn er kaldur emphasizes the wind as the cause of the coldness, which matches the idea of putting a scarf on because the wind is cold.
Adjectives in Icelandic must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe.
- Noun: vindurinn
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative
So the adjective kaldur is in:
- masculine, singular, nominative: kaldur
Other forms of the same adjective:
- feminine nominative singular: köld
- neuter nominative singular: kalt
You would get:
- vindurinn er kaldur – the wind (m.) is cold
- stelpan er köld – the girl (f.) is cold
- veðrið er kalt – the weather (n.) is cold
In this sentence, kaldur matches vindurinn in gender/number/case.
Yes, that word order is perfectly natural and quite common.
Two possible word orders are both fine:
- Hún setur trefil um hálsinn þegar vindurinn er kaldur.
- Þegar vindurinn er kaldur setur hún trefil um hálsinn.
The difference is just what you put first for emphasis:
- Version 1 starts with hún (she) and focuses on what she does.
- Version 2 starts with the time condition (when the wind is cold) and then tells you what she does in that situation.
The grammar (cases, verb forms, etc.) stays the same; only the order of the clauses changes.
Yes, there are some natural alternatives, though the original is very good and idiomatic:
Hún setur á sig trefil.
- literally: She puts on herself a scarf.
- Very common way to say she puts on a scarf.
Hún setur trefilinn um hálsinn.
- She puts *the scarf around her neck.* (here the scarf is definite)
Hún fer í trefil.
- literally: She goes into a scarf.
- Idiomatic for she puts on a scarf, but context usually makes it clear you’re talking about clothing.
Your original sentence Hún setur trefil um hálsinn is clear and natural, and it emphasizes the around the neck idea.
Approximate pronunciations (in simple English terms):
þegar
- þ is like English th in think.
- ega roughly like eh-gar (with a short e).
- Altogether: THEH-gar (stress on the first syllable).
vindurinn
- vin like vin in vinyl (short i).
- dur like dur in durable, but with a soft Icelandic d (between English d and ð).
- inn like English inn (short i
- n).
- Altogether: VIN-du-rinn, often sounding close to VIN-dur-in with stress on VIN.
In Icelandic, stress is almost always on the first syllable of words, so: ÞE-gar, VIN-dur-inn.