Breakdown of Börnin eru sæl í garðinum.
vera
to be
barnið
the child
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
garðurinn
the park / the garden
sæll
happy (adjective)
Questions & Answers about Börnin eru sæl í garðinum.
Why is the adjective sæl used instead of the dictionary form sæll?
Adjectives in Icelandic change to match the noun they describe. Because börnin (the children) is a neuter plural noun, the adjective takes its neuter plural form, which is sæl.
How do we get the form börnin from the base word for child?
Why does the word for garden change to garðinum here?
The preposition í means in. When talking about a fixed location (being somewhere rather than moving towards it), í forces the following noun into the dative case. The word garður (a masculine noun) becomes garði in the dative, and adding the definite suffix makes it garðinum.
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