Stjórinn reyndi að vera sanngjarn þegar hann hlustaði á báðar hliðarnar.

to be

Breakdown of Stjórinn reyndi að vera sanngjarn þegar hann hlustaði á báðar hliðarnar.

• hann: he
• reyna: to try
• þegar: when

Questions & Answers about Stjórinn reyndi að vera sanngjarn þegar hann hlustaði á báðar hliðarnar.

What is the literal structure of the sentence?

A close word-for-word breakdown is:

• Stjórinn = the boss / the manager
• reyndi = tried
• að vera = to be
• sanngjarn = fair
• þegar = when
• hann = he
• hlustaði á = listened to
• báðar hliðarnar = both sides

So the structure is basically:

The boss tried to be fair when he listened to both sides.

Even if you already know the meaning, this kind of breakdown helps show how Icelandic builds the sentence piece by piece.

Why is it Stjórinn and not just stjóri?

Because -inn is the suffixed definite article, meaning the.

• stjóri = a boss / boss
• stjórinn = the boss

Icelandic usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

Here, stjórinn is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.

What form is reyndi?