Breakdown of Dóttir mín hitti aldrei langafa sinn.
hitta
to meet
minn
my (m, f, n: minn, mín, mitt)
dóttirin
the daughter
aldrei
never
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
langafinn
the great-grandfather
Questions & Answers about Dóttir mín hitti aldrei langafa sinn.
Since this lesson is about irregular kinship nouns like faðir, does langafa decline the same way?
No, it doesn't. While faðir (father) is highly irregular, afi (grandfather) and langafi (great-grandfather) are regular weak masculine nouns. They end in -i in the nominative case and -a in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. Here it takes the -a ending because it is the object of the sentence.
What is the form of Dóttir here, and how does it decline?
It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence. Dóttir is an irregular kinship noun. It is tricky because its accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms all share the exact same spelling: dóttur.
Why use sinn for the English word her instead of hennar?
You must use the reflexive possessive pronoun sinn because the great-grandfather belongs to the subject of the sentence, which is Dóttir mín. If you used hennar, it would mean your daughter met some other woman's great-grandfather!
What case is langafa sinn in, and why?
It is in the accusative case. The verb hitta (to meet) always requires its object to take the accusative case. Because langafi is a masculine noun, the reflexive pronoun must also take the masculine accusative singular form, which is sinn.
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