Breakdown of Nemendurnir sem skilja textann lesa hann án þess að stoppa.
nemandinn
the student
hann
he
skilja
to understand
lesa
to read
stoppa
to stop (moving) / to stop (someone/something)
textinn
the text
sem
who / which / that
án þess að
without doing
Questions & Answers about Nemendurnir sem skilja textann lesa hann án þess að stoppa.
Why do we say án þess að instead of just án að?
The preposition án (without) requires the word following it to be in the genitive case. Since we cannot put the infinitive marker að into a case, we use the pronoun það in its genitive form (þess) as a bridge. It literally translates to 'without that to stop'.
Why does the sentence use hann for 'it' rather than það?
In Icelandic, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Because texti (text) is a masculine noun, you must use the masculine pronoun hann to say 'it'.
What is the singular form of nemendurnir, and why does the plural look so different?
The singular form is nemandi (student). Nouns ending in -andi usually describe a person performing an action and take a special plural form ending in -endur. Adding the plural definite article makes it nemendurnir.
Why is textann in the accusative case here?
It is the direct object of the verb skilja (to understand), which requires the accusative case. The ending -nn shows it is the definite form ('the text') of the masculine noun texti.
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