Breakdown of Annar parturinn er gamall, en hinn er úr frumritinu.
vera
to be
en
but
gamall
old
úr
out of
annar
other, another; second
hinn
the other
frumritið
the original
parturinn
the part
Questions & Answers about Annar parturinn er gamall, en hinn er úr frumritinu.
Why use Annar ... hinn here instead of Einn ... annar for 'One ... the other'?
Why does parturinn have the definite article suffix (-inn) when the English says 'One part'?
In Icelandic, when annar means 'one of two,' the noun attached to it must be in the definite form. Even though we say 'One part' in English, the Icelandic grammar literally functions more like 'The one part.'
Why are Annar, gamall, and hinn all in the masculine form?
They all need to agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they refer to, which is the masculine word partur (part). Since it is singular and the subject of the sentence (nominative case), the pronouns and adjectives take their masculine, singular, nominative forms.
Why is frumritinu in the dative case here?
The preposition úr (from/out of) always forces the following noun into the dative case. The root word is the neuter noun frumrit (original document), which becomes frumritinu when definite and dative.
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