Breakdown of Hnerrinn hennar var svo sterkur að barnið fór að hlæja.
Questions & Answers about Hnerrinn hennar var svo sterkur að barnið fór að hlæja.
Hnerri means a sneeze. Hnerrinn means the sneeze.
In Icelandic, a possessed noun is very often made definite as well, so hnerrinn hennar is the normal way to say her sneeze. English uses just the possessive, but Icelandic commonly uses both the definite noun and the possessive pronoun together.
So the structure is roughly:
- hnerri = a sneeze
- hnerrinn = the sneeze
- hnerrinn hennar = her sneeze
The ending -inn is the suffixed definite article.
That is the normal position for third-person possessives like hans, hennar, and þeirra in Icelandic.
So Icelandic usually says:
- hnerrinn hennar = her sneeze
- bíllinn hans = his car
This can feel backwards to an English speaker, because English puts her before the noun. But in Icelandic, hennar after the noun is the usual pattern.