Breakdown of Nemandinn hlustar starandi á kennarann.
kennarinn
the teacher
nemandinn
the student
hlusta
to listen
á
to/at (with verbs of perception: hlusta á, horfa á)
stara
to stare
Questions & Answers about Nemandinn hlustar starandi á kennarann.
Does the word starandi change if there are multiple students?
No, it stays exactly the same. Starandi is the present participle of stara (to stare). When used as an adverb of manner to describe how an action is done (how the student listens), it never changes its ending, regardless of the subject's gender or how many people there are.
The verbs for 'listen' and 'stare' both use the preposition á in Icelandic. Which one is á kennarann attached to?
It is actually doing double duty! In Icelandic, 'to listen to' is hlusta á and 'to stare at' is stara á. Because both verbs require the preposition á followed by a noun in the accusative case, they can perfectly share the single phrase á kennarann.
Can I move starandi to the very end of the sentence?
Yes, you could say Nemandinn hlustar á kennarann starandi. Putting the participle right next to the main verb (hlustar) is just a natural stylistic choice that puts a little more focus on the manner in which the student is listening.
Why does kennarann end with a double 'n' here?
Kennari (teacher) is a masculine weak noun. The preposition á forces it into the accusative case, which drops the 'i' and changes it to kennara. To say 'the teacher', we add the definite article suffix for this specific case, which is -nn, giving us kennarann.
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