Garðyrkjumaðurinn vinnur hér.

The gardener works here.

Breakdown of Garðyrkjumaðurinn vinnur hér.

• hér: here
• vinna: to work
• garðyrkjumaðurinn: the gardener

Questions & Answers about Garðyrkjumaðurinn vinnur hér.

Why is the attached to garðyrkjumaðurinn instead of being a separate word?

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix.

• garðyrkjumaður = gardener
• garðyrkjumaðurinn = the gardener

So instead of a separate word like English the, Icelandic often builds that meaning directly into the noun.

Why does the noun end in -inn?

Here, -inn is the definite ending used for this noun in the nominative singular masculine form.

That means the ending is showing:

• definite: the
• singular: one gardener
• masculine
• nominative: the subject form

In other genders, numbers, or cases, the ending would be different.

Is garðyrkjumaðurinn a compound word?

Yes. It is a compound, and long compounds are very common in Icelandic.

You can think of it as:

• garðyrkja = gardening / horticulture
• maður = man / person
• -inn = the

So the whole word means literally something like the gardening person, i.e. the gardener.