Breakdown of Starfsmaðurinn svarar fljótlega fyrirspurninni og segir að umsóknin sé í vinnslu.
vera
to be
segja
to say
svara
to answer
í
in
Questions & Answers about Starfsmaðurinn svarar fljótlega fyrirspurninni og segir að umsóknin sé í vinnslu.
What does the -inn ending in Starfsmaðurinn mean?
-inn is the suffixed definite article for masculine singular nominative.
So starfsmaður = an employee, and starfsmaðurinn = the employee.
Icelandic usually puts “the” on the end of the noun (instead of a separate word like English).
Why is it fyrirspurninni and not fyrirspurnina?
Because the verb svara (to answer) typically takes a dative object in Icelandic.
- fyrirspurn (f.) = inquiry
- fyrirspurnina would be accusative (not used with svara in standard usage)
- fyrirspurninni = dative singular definite (“to/for the inquiry” → “the inquiry” as the thing being answered)
So svarar … fyrirspurninni is the normal pattern.
How do I know that fyrirspurninni is dative definite?
It’s the combination of:
- the dative singular ending (here you see -i in the article ending), and
- the definite article attached to the noun (-nni is a common definite dative singular ending for feminine nouns).
A quick case table for this noun (common pattern):
- N: fyrirspurnin
- A: fyrirspurnina
- D: fyrirspurninni
- G: fyrirspurnarinnar