Breakdown of Er pípulagningamaðurinn sjálfur inni í húsinu?
vera
to be
húsið
the house
inni
inside
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
sjálfur
self, oneself
pípulagningamaðurinn
the plumber
Questions & Answers about Er pípulagningamaðurinn sjálfur inni í húsinu?
Why is sjálfur in the nominative form here instead of the accusative?
sjálfur acts as an intensifying pronoun here, meaning "himself." It always agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it emphasizes. Because it emphasizes the subject of the sentence, pípulagningamaðurinn (the plumber), which is in the nominative case, sjálfur must also be in the masculine singular nominative.
How do you break down the long word pípulagningamaðurinn?
Icelandic loves compound words! This one breaks down into pípu (from pípa, meaning pipe), lagninga (from lagning, meaning laying or installation), and maðurinn (the man). Literally, it translates to "the pipe-laying-man."
Why use both inni and í in this sentence?
While inni means "inside," it functions as an adverb of location, not a preposition. To say you are inside a specific place, you need the preposition í to connect the adverb to the noun. So inni í húsinu essentially means "inside, in the house."
Why does í force húsinu into the dative case here instead of the accusative?
The preposition í can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the dative when describing a stationary position, like being already inside the house. If the sentence involved movement from one place to another (like the plumber walking into the house), í would take the accusative.
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