Questions & Answers about Ég borða ávexti, til dæmis epli.
Why is it ávexti instead of a singular word for fruit?
In English, "fruit" is usually an uncountable singular noun (we say "I eat fruit"). In Icelandic, when talking about fruit in general, you use the plural form. Here, ávexti is the accusative plural of the masculine noun ávöxtur.
Are ávexti and epli in the same grammatical case here?
Yes, they are both in the accusative case. The verb borða (to eat) requires the thing you are eating to be in the accusative case. Even though epli comes after the phrase til dæmis, it acts as a direct continuation of the object you eat.
Why does dæmi (example) have an -s at the end in til dæmis?
The phrase til dæmis means "for example", but literally it is "to example". The preposition til always requires the following noun to be in the genitive case, which is normally used to show possession. The genitive form of the neuter noun dæmi is dæmis.
Wait, doesn't epli mean "apple" (singular)? Why is it translated as "apples"?
Epli is a neuter noun. For neuter nouns that end in -i, the singular and plural forms are exactly the same in both the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases! Here, the context tells us it means the plural "apples" because we are talking about fruits in general.