Breakdown of Fjandinn er grimmur í sögunni.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
sagan
the story
grimmur
cruel
fjandinn
the devil; damn it (mild oath)
Questions & Answers about Fjandinn er grimmur í sögunni.
Why is the word for "the story" spelled with an "ö" here (sögunni) instead of an "a" (saga)?
This happens because of a sound change called U-mutation. The preposition í (in) describes a fixed location here, so it requires the following noun to be in the dative case. The dative form of the feminine noun saga is sögu. That "u" ending changes the "a" in the root vowel to an "ö".
How do we get the -nni ending on sögunni?
After changing saga to its dative form sögu, we need to attach the word "the" to the end. The definite article suffix for a feminine dative singular noun is -nni. Adding that to sögu gives us sögunni (the story).
Why does the adjective grimmur end in -ur?
In Icelandic, adjectives change their endings to match the noun they describe. Fjandinn (the devil) is a masculine, singular noun in the subject position (nominative case). Therefore, the adjective keeps its masculine singular nominative ending -ur.
How is the word fjandinn (the devil) formed?
The base word for "devil" or "fiend" is fjandi, which is a weak masculine noun. Because it already ends in an "i", you only need to add -nn to make it definite ("the devil") in the nominative case, rather than adding a full -inn ending.
Learn Fjandinn er grimmur í sögunni and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free