Breakdown of Hann hefur áhuga á íþróttinni.
hann
he
íþróttin
the sport
hafa áhuga á
to be interested in (+ Dative)
Questions & Answers about Hann hefur áhuga á íþróttinni.
Why does Icelandic use hefur (has) instead of a word for "is"?
In English, we say someone "is interested," using the verb "to be." In Icelandic, the idiom is að hafa áhuga (to have interest). So you literally say "He has interest in..." instead of "He is interested in."
Why is the word for interest spelled áhuga here instead of its dictionary form áhugi?
The verb hafa (to have) requires its object to be in the accusative case. The dictionary form áhugi is a weak masculine noun. These nouns end in -i in the nominative case but change their ending to -a in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases.
What case does the preposition á trigger for the word that follows it here?
In this sentence, á takes the dative case. While the preposition á can take either the accusative or dative depending on whether it describes movement or location, the fixed phrase hafa áhuga á (to be interested in) always forces the noun that comes after it into the dative case.
How do we break down the word íþróttinni?
The base word is íþrótt (sport), which is a feminine noun. Because it follows á in this specific phrase, it takes the dative case. The ending -inni is the attached feminine singular definite article in the dative case, changing "sport" to "the sport."
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