Breakdown of Hún missir lykilinn í snjóinn.
hún
she
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
lykillinn
the key
snjórinn
the snow (m)
missa
to lose, to drop
Questions & Answers about Hún missir lykilinn í snjóinn.
Doesn't missa usually mean "to lose" or "to miss"? Why is it translated as "drops" here?
In Icelandic, missa is the standard way to say you accidentally dropped a physical object. If you want to say you "lost" an object because you don't know where it is, you would typically use the verb týna instead.
Why is lykilinn (the key) in the accusative case?
It is the direct object of the verb missir. The dictionary form is the masculine noun lykill. In the accusative case, it drops the final L to become lykil, and then we add the masculine accusative "the" suffix, -inn, making it lykilinn.
Why do we use the accusative case for snjóinn (the snow) after í, instead of the dative case?
The preposition í triggers the accusative case when it describes movement or a change of location (dropping the key into the snow). If we were describing a static location, like a key already lying still in the snow, we would use the dative case: í snjónum.
What is the root form of snjóinn?
The base dictionary form is the masculine noun snjór (snow). Because it follows the motion preposition í, it must be in the accusative case, becoming snjó. Finally, we add the masculine accusative definite article -inn to get snjóinn (the snow).
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