Breakdown of Kötturinn felur sig á bak við gluggatjaldið, þar sem hundurinn sefur.
hundurinn
the dog
kötturinn
the cat
sofa
to sleep
sig
himself/herself/themselves (acc)
fela
to hide
bak
behind (literally "back", in the three-word preposition)
þar sem
where (location)
gluggatjaldið
the window curtain
Questions & Answers about Kötturinn felur sig á bak við gluggatjaldið, þar sem hundurinn sefur.
Why does this sentence use þar sem for "where" instead of hvar?
Hvar is strictly a question word used to ask where something is. When you want to say "where" to connect two parts of a sentence (meaning "at the location which"), you must use the phrase þar sem (literally "there as").
Why do we need the word sig after felur?
The verb að fela means "to hide [an object]". If someone or something is hiding itself, you must use a reflexive pronoun. Since the cat is the subject, we use the third-person reflexive pronoun sig to show it hides itself.
What case is gluggatjaldið, and what causes it?
It is in the accusative case, which is required by the prepositional phrase á bak við (behind). The noun gluggatjald is neuter, so adding the accusative definite article -ið gives us gluggatjaldið.
What are the root words inside gluggatjald?
It is a compound word made from gluggi (window) and tjald (tent). So a curtain in Icelandic is literally a "window-tent"!
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