Breakdown of Hún skannar samninginn á meðan ég ljósrita hann.
ég
I
hún
she
hann
he
samningurinn
the contract
ljósrita
to photocopy
á meðan
while
skanna
to scan
Questions & Answers about Hún skannar samninginn á meðan ég ljósrita hann.
Does the phrase á meðan change the word order of the action that follows it?
No. Because á meðan (while) is a subordinating conjunction, it introduces a new dependent clause with standard word order. The subject (ég) simply comes right before the verb (ljósrita).
Why does the sentence end with hann (him) instead of það (it)?
In Icelandic, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. This pronoun refers back to samningur (contract), which is a masculine noun. Therefore, we must use the masculine accusative pronoun hann to say 'it'.
Why is the word for 'the contract' written as samninginn instead of samningurinn?
The contract is the direct object receiving the action of the verb skannar, so it must be in the accusative case. The base word is the masculine noun samningur, and its accusative form with the definite article attached is samninginn.
Could this sentence also mean 'She is scanning the contract while I am photocopying it'?
Yes! Icelandic does not use an '-ing' style helper verb for continuous actions in this way. The simple present tense verbs skannar and ljósrita cover both 'scans' and 'is scanning'.
Learn Hún skannar samninginn á meðan ég ljósrita hann and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free