Reglustikan mín er í töskunni, en reiknivélin er heima.

My ruler is in the bag, but the calculator is at home.

Breakdown of Reglustikan mín er í töskunni, en reiknivélin er heima.

• vera: to be
• heima: at home
• í: in
• en: but

Questions & Answers about Reglustikan mín er í töskunni, en reiknivélin er heima.

Why is mín placed after reglustikan instead of before it?

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns like minn / mín / mitt very often come after the noun.

So:

• reglustikan mín = my ruler

This is the most neutral, everyday pattern.

If you put the possessive first, as in mín reglustika, it usually sounds more emphatic or contrastive, like my ruler, not someone else’s.

So for ordinary my X, Icelandic commonly uses:

• noun + definite article + possessive

For example:

• bókin mín = my book
• taskan mín = my bag

Why does reglustikan have the ending -n if mín already means my?

Because Icelandic normally uses the definite form of the noun together with a following possessive.

So:

• reglustikan mín literally looks like the ruler my
• but it simply means my ruler

This is a normal Icelandic structure, not an unusual one.

The -n is the suffixed definite article, the equivalent of English the attached to the noun itself. Icelandic often says:

• bókin mín = my book
• bíllinn minn = my car

So even though English does not say the my ruler, Icelandic often uses exactly that kind of structure.

Are reglustika and reiknivél feminine nouns? How can I tell?