Hún heldur í reipið og brosir.

she

Breakdown of Hún heldur í reipið og brosir.

• og: and
• halda í: to hold
• brosa: to smile

Questions & Answers about Hún heldur í reipið og brosir.

Why is it hún and not hana?

Hún is the nominative form, and nominative is used for the subject of the sentence.

Here, she is the one doing the actions:

• heldur
• brosir

So Icelandic uses hún.

By contrast, hana is the accusative/object form, used when her receives an action.

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What form is heldur?

Heldur is the 3rd person singular present tense of halda.

So:

• að halda = to hold
• ég held = I hold
• þú heldur = you hold
• hún heldur = she holds

A learner may notice that the vowel changes from a in halda to e in heldur. That is just part of how this verb is conjugated.

Also, Icelandic verbs agree with person and number, not with gender, so:

• hann heldur
• hún heldur
• það heldur

all use the same verb form.

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Why is there an í after heldur?