Breakdown of Kennarinn segir að góð greinamerki skipti máli, og hún sýnir okkur hvar komman á að vera.
vera
to be
góður
good
hún
she
hvar
where
eiga að
should
segja
to say
og
and
kennarinn
the teacher
okkur
us
að
that
sýna
to show
skipta máli
to matter
greinamerki
punctuation
komman
the comma
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn segir að góð greinamerki skipti máli, og hún sýnir okkur hvar komman á að vera.
Why does Kennarinn end in -inn?
Because Icelandic usually attaches the definite article to the noun. Kennari means teacher, and kennarinn means the teacher. So the ending -inn here is the equivalent of English the.
What form is segir?
Segir is the 3rd person singular present tense of segja, meaning to say. Since the subject is Kennarinn (the teacher), Icelandic uses segir = says.
What is the first að doing in segir að?
Here að means that and introduces a subordinate clause: segir að... = says that.... English often drops that, but Icelandic commonly keeps að.
Why is it góð greinamerki, and is greinamerki singular or plural here?
Here it is plural in meaning: good punctuation marks / good punctuation. A useful thing to notice is that greinamerki can look the same in singular and plural, but the adjective góð shows that the noun is plural here. English usually uses the mass noun punctuation, while Icelandic often uses greinamerki where English would not explicitly say marks.
What does skipti máli mean?
Skipta máli is a very common Icelandic expression meaning to matter or to make a difference. So að góð greinamerki skipti máli means that good punctuation matters. You should learn skipta máli as a set phrase.
Why is it skipti and not skipta here?
Skipti is a subjunctive form. In clauses after verbs like segja (to say), Icelandic can use the subjunctive when reporting what someone says, thinks, or claims, rather than simply stating it as a plain fact. So segir að ... skipti máli is a normal reported-speech style pattern; in other contexts, you may also see indicative forms in similar sentences.
Why is it máli and not mál?
Because the expression is skipta máli, where mál appears in the dative singular: máli. This is just how the idiom works. So even though mál by itself means matter / issue / case, in this expression you should remember the full pattern skipta máli.
Why does the sentence use hún for the teacher?
Because hún tells you the teacher is female. Even though kennari is grammatically a masculine noun, it can refer to a person of either sex. When referring back to the actual person, Icelandic can use hann or hún according to the person's real gender.
Why is it okkur instead of við?
Because okkur is the dative form of við (we/us). The verb sýna often takes the person being shown something in the dative: sýna einhverjum... = show someone.... So hún sýnir okkur means she shows us.
What does á að vera mean, and is that second að the same as the first one?
Á að vera means is supposed to be or should be. It comes from eiga að + infinitive, a very common pattern for obligation, expectation, or what is considered correct. The second að is not the same as the first one: the first að means that, while this one is the infinitive marker to.
Why is the word order hvar komman á að vera instead of hvar á komman að vera?
Because this is an embedded question, not a direct question. In a direct question, you would say Hvar á komman að vera? = Where should the comma be? But after sýnir okkur (shows us), Icelandic uses subordinate-clause word order: hvar komman á að vera = where the comma should be.
Why is it komman?
Komman means the comma. The base noun is komma, and the definite article is attached to it, giving komman. So this works the same basic way as kennari → kennarinn, except with a feminine noun.
Why is there a comma before og?
Because the sentence joins two full clauses: Kennarinn segir... and hún sýnir okkur.... Icelandic often uses commas to separate clause boundaries more clearly than English does. So the comma before og is natural here, though not every og in Icelandic automatically gets a comma.
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