Breakdown of Hún setur nokkur vínber og eina brauðsneið á diskinn sinn.
hún
she
setja
to put
á
on
nokkur
some
Questions & Answers about Hún setur nokkur vínber og eina brauðsneið á diskinn sinn.
What form is setur, and what verb does it come from?
Setur is the present tense, 3rd person singular of the verb setja.
So:
- að setja = to put, place, set
- hún setur = she puts / she places
It matches hún because the subject is she, so the verb has to be in the 3rd person singular form.
Why does the sentence start with Hún setur? Is the word order just like English?
In this sentence, yes, the basic order is very similar to English:
- Hún = subject
- setur = verb
- nokkur vínber og eina brauðsneið = direct object
- á diskinn sinn = destination/location phrase
So the structure is basically:
She + puts + grapes and a slice of bread + onto her plate
However, Icelandic is a verb-second language in main clauses. That means the finite verb usually stays in the second position, even if something else comes first. In this sentence, the subject comes first, so it looks very English-like.
Why is it nokkur vínber? What does nokkur mean here?