Breakdown of Hann ætlar að leigja annaðhvort bílaleigubílinn eða hjólið.
hann
he
að
to (infinitive marker)
ætla
to intend
hjólið
the bike
eða
or
annaðhvort
either
leigja
to rent
bílaleigubíllinn
the rental car
Questions & Answers about Hann ætlar að leigja annaðhvort bílaleigubílinn eða hjólið.
How does annaðhvort ... eða affect the case of the nouns?
The conjunction annaðhvort ... eða (either ... or) doesn't dictate the case itself. Instead, the verb leigja (to rent) requires its direct objects to be in the accusative case. That is why both bílaleigubílinn and hjólið take the accusative form here.
bílaleigubílinn is a very long word! How does it break down?
It is a compound word made of three parts plus the definite article. It breaks down into bíla (of cars), leigu (rental), bíl (car in the accusative case), and inn (the). Together, bílaleiga means "car rental", making bílaleigubíll a "rental car".
Why use ætlar að here when the English translation says "is going to"?
Icelandic does not have a dedicated future tense form of verbs. To express that someone "is going to" or "will" do something, you usually use the verb ætla (to intend / to plan) followed by að and the infinitive verb, as seen here with ætlar að leigja.
Why do the two choices have different endings (-inn vs -ið) if they are both in the accusative case?
The endings differ because the nouns have different grammatical genders. Bíll (car) is a masculine noun, so the accusative "the" suffix is -inn. Hjól (bicycle) is a neuter noun, so its accusative "the" suffix is -ið. The conjunction annaðhvort ... eða links them perfectly, regardless of their gender differences.
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