Breakdown of Móðir mín er að hugsa um uppeldi systur minnar.
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
minn
my (m, f, n: minn, mín, mitt)
systirin
the sister
hugsa
to think
um
about
móðirin
the mother (formal register)
uppeldið
the upbringing
Questions & Answers about Móðir mín er að hugsa um uppeldi systur minnar.
Why is the word for sister spelled systur instead of systir here?
It is in the genitive (possessive) case because it means "my sister's" (literally: "the upbringing of my sister"). Systir is an irregular kinship noun: its accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms are all systur.
If the sentence were reversed ("My sister is thinking about my mother's upbringing"), how would móðir change?
Just like systir, the irregular noun móðir changes its ending to -ur in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. So "my mother's upbringing" would be uppeldi móður minnar.
Why does the possessive word change to minnar at the end of the sentence?
Possessive pronouns like minn (my) must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Because systur is feminine, singular, and in the genitive case, minn takes the feminine genitive singular form minnar.
Does the preposition um cause the genitive case later in the sentence?
No, the preposition um (about) only affects the noun immediately following it, taking the accusative case. Uppeldi (upbringing) is a neuter noun, and its accusative form is identical to its nominative form. The genitive case later on (systur minnar) is purely to show possession (who the upbringing belongs to).
Why use er að hugsa instead of just hugsar?
This uses the vera að + infinitive construction, which is the Icelandic continuous tense. It works exactly like "is thinking" in English, showing that the mother is actively engaged in this thought process right now, rather than just stating a general fact.
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