Breakdown of Nemandinn er forvitinn um þessa skáldsögu.
vera
to be
nemandinn
the student
um
about
þessi
this (m/f)
forvitinn
curious
skáldsagan
the novel
Questions & Answers about Nemandinn er forvitinn um þessa skáldsögu.
Why do we use the accusative form þessa skáldsögu after um?
The adjective forvitinn (curious) pairs with the fixed preposition um (about), and um forces the following noun into the accusative case. That is why the feminine noun skáldsaga changes to skáldsögu, and the demonstrative word for "this" changes from þessi to þessa.
Does the case after um ever change depending on motion or location like some other prepositions?
Not in this context! When a preposition is locked to an adjective (like forvitinn um or áhugasamur um), it takes a fixed case. For um, this is practically always the accusative, so you do not need to worry about the motion versus location rules here.
Nemandinn is a masculine noun, so we use the masculine adjective forvitinn. What if we know the student is a woman?
In Icelandic, grammatical gender usually wins. Since the noun nemandi is masculine, you still use the masculine adjective forvitinn, regardless of the person's actual gender. If you swapped the noun to a feminine one like konan (the woman), the adjective would change to the feminine form forvitin (with one "n").
What is the literal meaning of the compound word skáldsaga?
It is made up of skáld (poet) and saga (story, tale, or history). So a "poet's story" is the Icelandic word for a novel or a work of fiction.
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