Breakdown of Barnið er í baðinu.
vera
to be
barnið
the child
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
baðið
the bath
Questions & Answers about Barnið er í baðinu.
Why does the word for bath end in "-inu" here?
Why does the preposition í cause baðinu to be in the dative case?
The preposition í (in) takes the dative case when it describes a stationary location, meaning someone or something is already resting there. Since the child is simply sitting in the bath, we use the dative case.
How would the sentence change if the child was getting INTO the bath?
If there is movement from one place to a new location, í triggers the accusative case instead. The sentence would become Barnið fer í baðið (The child goes into the bath), using the accusative form baðið.
How can we tell from the endings that both barnið and baðinu are neuter words?
In Icelandic, neuter nouns usually take the suffix -ið for "the" when they are the subject of the sentence (like barnið). When a neuter word is in the dative case, it takes the suffix -inu instead (like baðinu).
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