Ég set símann á náttborðið og fer í inniskóna.

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Breakdown of Ég set símann á náttborðið og fer í inniskóna.

• setja: to put
• á: on
• og: and

Questions & Answers about Ég set símann á náttborðið og fer í inniskóna.

Why is it símann and not sími?

Because símann is the accusative singular definite form of sími.

Here, símann is the direct object of set: you are putting the phone somewhere.

A quick breakdown:

• sími = a phone, phone
• síma = a phone/phone in the accusative singular
• símann = the phone in the accusative singular

So after ég set you need the object form, not the basic dictionary form.

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Why is it á náttborðið and not á náttborðinu?

Because Icelandic usually uses:

• accusative after á when something is moving onto a place
• dative after á when something is already on a place

In this sentence, the phone is being moved onto the nightstand, so you get:

• á náttborðið = onto the nightstand

Compare:

• Ég set símann á náttborðið. = I put the phone onto the nightstand.
• Síminn er á náttborðinu. = The phone is on the nightstand.

So this is a very common Icelandic pattern: motion = accusative, location = dative with certain prepositions.

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