Breakdown of Þau skoða afritið saman og senda síðan eintakið til kennarans.
Questions & Answers about Þau skoða afritið saman og senda síðan eintakið til kennarans.
Why does the sentence start with þau? Does it just mean they?
Yes. Þau is the third-person plural pronoun, so here it means they.
A learner often notices that Icelandic has three plural forms:
- þeir = they for a masculine group
- þær = they for a feminine group
- þau = they for a neuter group, a mixed group, or sometimes children / unspecified people
So þau is not random: it tells you something about the group being referred to.
Why isn’t þau repeated before senda?
Because the same subject continues across both verbs.
The structure is basically:
- Þau skoða ...
- og senda síðan ...
This works like English They examine ... and then send .... Icelandic often omits the repeated subject in the second part when it is clearly the same subject.
You could repeat it for emphasis or clarity in some contexts, but it is not necessary here.
Are skoða and senda both present tense?
Yes. Both verbs are in the present tense:
- skoða = look at / examine
- senda = send
With þau, the present-tense plural forms are:
- þau skoða
- þau senda
So the sentence describes what they do: first they examine the copy, then they send it.
Why is skoða spelled the same as the dictionary form?
Because for many Icelandic verbs, the 3rd person plural present looks the same as the infinitive.
For skoða:
- infinitive: að skoða = to examine
- 3rd person plural present: þau skoða = they examine
So even though the form looks like the infinitive, here it is definitely a finite verb because it follows the subject þau.
What does afritið mean grammatically? Why does it end in -ið?
Afritið is the noun afrit with the definite article attached.
- afrit = a copy
- afritið = the copy
Icelandic usually adds the to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English.
Here:
- afrit is a neuter noun
- -ið is the definite ending here
Since afritið is the object of skoða, it is functioning as the direct object. For this noun, the singular definite form looks the same in nominative and accusative.
Why does eintakið also end in -ið?
For the same reason: it is also a neuter singular definite noun.
- eintak = a copy / an экземпляр / a physical copy / an item
- eintakið = the copy
So both:
- afritið
- eintakið
have the definite article attached as a suffix.
This is very common in Icelandic and is one of the first things learners need to get used to.
What is the difference between afritið and eintakið? Don’t they both mean the copy?
They can both be translated as the copy, but they are not exactly the same word.
A useful distinction is:
- afrit = copy, duplicate, reproduction
- eintak = copy, экземпляр, individual physical copy, specimen
So afrit often emphasizes that something is a reproduction of another thing, while eintak often refers to one physical copy or one instance.
In natural translation, English may use copy for both, but Icelandic is making a small lexical distinction.
What does saman do in the sentence?
Saman means together.
So:
- Þau skoða afritið saman = They examine the copy together
It is an adverb, not an adjective. It tells you how they do the action.
Its position is natural here, after the object, although Icelandic word order can sometimes vary depending on emphasis.
What does síðan mean here?
Síðan here means then, after that, or afterwards.
It connects the two actions in sequence:
- they examine the copy together
- then they send the copy to the teacher
So síðan is an adverb of time/sequence.
In everyday Icelandic, learners may also see svo used in similar contexts, but síðan is perfectly normal and a bit more explicit as after that / then.
Why is it til kennarans? What case is kennarans?
Because the preposition til takes the genitive case.
So:
- til = to / toward / to the place/person of
- kennarans = of the teacher / the teacher’s in the genitive definite form
Together:
- til kennarans = to the teacher
This is one of the most important things to memorize in Icelandic: many prepositions require a specific case, and til requires the genitive.
How do you get kennarans from kennari?
The base noun is:
- kennari = teacher
Its definite singular forms are:
- nominative: kennarinn = the teacher
- accusative: kennarann
- dative: kennaranum
- genitive: kennarans
Since til requires the genitive, Icelandic uses:
- til kennarans
So this is not an arbitrary spelling change; it is the correct genitive definite form of kennari.
Could Icelandic also say senda kennaranum eintakið instead of senda eintakið til kennarans?
Yes, that is also possible, and it is a very useful comparison.
Two common ways to express the recipient are:
- senda eintakið til kennarans = send the copy to the teacher
- senda kennaranum eintakið = send the teacher the copy
The second version uses the teacher as an indirect object in the dative:
- kennaranum = to the teacher
The version with til + genitive focuses more on the destination or direction. Both are understandable and natural, but they are structured differently.
Is the word order around síðan fixed?
Not completely, but the word order here is very natural:
- og senda síðan eintakið til kennarans
This places síðan after the verb and before the object, which is a common position for adverbs in Icelandic.
If you move things around, the meaning may stay similar, but the emphasis can change. Icelandic word order is more flexible than English in some ways, though not completely free.
So for a learner, this sentence is a good standard model to copy.
How are þ and ð pronounced in this sentence?
A very common learner question.
- þ is pronounced like th in thin
- ð is pronounced like th in this
So:
- Þau starts with the thin sound
- afritið and eintakið contain ð at the end
A small warning: in real speech, final ð can sound quite light, and sometimes learners barely hear it. But it is still part of the spelling and grammar.
So as a rough guide:
- Þau ≈ th-oy / th-uhy depending on accent
- afritið ≈ av-rih-tith
- eintakið ≈ ayn-ta-ki-th
Exact pronunciation varies by speaker, but the þ / ð distinction is important.
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