Breakdown of Leiðtoginn spyr um kunnáttu hverrar konu.
konan
the woman
spyrja
to ask
um
about
hver
each / every
leiðtoginn
the leader
kunnáttan
the skill
Questions & Answers about Leiðtoginn spyr um kunnáttu hverrar konu.
Why do we use the form hverrar here?
Why do both kunnáttu and konu end in -u? Are they in the same case?
No, they are actually in different cases! Both are weak feminine nouns, meaning they end in -a in their base dictionary form (kunnátta and kona). Weak feminine nouns change their ending to -u for the accusative, dative, and genitive singular. In this sentence, kunnáttu is accusative, while konu is genitive.
What causes kunnáttu to be in the accusative case?
The preposition um (about) requires the accusative case here. So the phrase "about the skill" becomes um kunnáttu. The genitive phrase that follows (hverrar konu) just tags along to explain whose skill it is, and isn't affected by the preposition um.
The verb spyr looks a bit short. What is the infinitive form?
The infinitive is spyrja (to ask). It drops the -ja in the present tense singular, so "I ask", "you ask", and "he/she/it asks" all become spyr.
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