Questions & Answers about Kötturinn minn er feitur.
Why does it say kötturinn (the cat) instead of just köttur when saying "my cat"?
In Icelandic, it is standard to use the definite form of the noun when it is followed by a possessive pronoun. You are literally saying "the cat my." If you just said köttur minn, it would sound poetic or old-fashioned.
Why does the adjective feitur (fat) end in -ur here?
Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Because köttur is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative (subject) case, the adjective takes the standard masculine nominative ending -ur.
Can I say minn köttur to match the English word order?
You can, but it adds a lot of emphasis to the word "my." You would only use minn köttur if you were contrasting it with someone else's cat, like saying "MY cat is fat (but yours is skinny)." Notice that when you put minn first, the noun loses the definite article -inn.
How would this sentence change if I were talking about a female cat?
If you used a feminine noun like læða (female cat), all the describing words would change to their feminine forms. The sentence would become Læðan mín er feit. The possessive changes from minn to mín, and the adjective drops the masculine -ur to become feit.
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