Breakdown of Stundum er iðnaðarmaðurinn mjög dýr.
vera
to be
mjög
very
stundum
sometimes
dýr
expensive
iðnaðarmaðurinn
the tradesman
Questions & Answers about Stundum er iðnaðarmaðurinn mjög dýr.
Why is the verb er placed before the subject iðnaðarmaðurinn?
This sentence starts with the adverb Stundum (sometimes). Icelandic strictly follows the V2 rule, meaning the main verb must always be the second grammatical piece of the sentence. Because Stundum takes the first slot, the subject gets bumped to immediately after the verb.
How is the noun iðnaðarmaðurinn constructed?
It is a compound word made up of iðnaður (industry, craft) and maður (man, person), with the definite article -inn (the) attached at the end. Literally, a tradesman is an 'industry-man'!
If I wanted to emphasize 'The tradesman HIMSELF is very expensive,' where would I put the word sjálfur?
You would place it directly after the noun: Stundum er iðnaðarmaðurinn sjálfur mjög dýr. Since iðnaðarmaðurinn is the subject (nominative masculine singular), the intensifying pronoun must match it, giving us the nominative masculine singular form sjálfur.
Why doesn't the adjective dýr have an ending here?
Adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe. Here, dýr (expensive) describes iðnaðarmaðurinn, which is masculine, singular, and in the nominative case. The masculine singular nominative form of this adjective is just its base dictionary form: dýr.
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