Breakdown of Nemendurnir halda að skrímslið sofi niðri í kjallaranum.
nemandinn
the student
sofa
to sleep
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
halda
to think (believe)
að
that (conjunction)
kjallarinn
the basement
niðri
downstairs / down (location)
skrímslið
the monster
Questions & Answers about Nemendurnir halda að skrímslið sofi niðri í kjallaranum.
Why does the sentence use sofi instead of sefur for "sleeps"?
Sofi is the present subjunctive form of sofa (to sleep). In Icelandic, verbs of thinking, believing, or claiming, like halda (to think/believe), trigger the subjunctive in the following að (that) clause. It shows that the statement is subjective or a belief, rather than an absolute fact.
Why is the word for "down" niðri and not niður?
Why is kjallaranum in the dative case here?
The preposition í (in) can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the dative when describing a stationary location ("being in" the basement), and the accusative when describing motion ("going into" the basement). Because the monster is already in the basement sleeping, we use the dative form kjallaranum.
What is the base form of Nemendurnir and how is this plural formed?
The base word is nemandi (student), which is a weak masculine noun ending in -andi. In the plural, these specific nouns change their ending to -endur, making the indefinite plural nemendur. To say "the students", we add the plural definite article -nir, giving us nemendurnir.
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