Breakdown of Er nokkur inni í yfirgefnu verksmiðjunni?
vera
to be
inni
inside
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
verksmiðjan
the factory
Questions & Answers about Er nokkur inni í yfirgefnu verksmiðjunni?
Why is nokkur in the masculine form if we do not know who is inside?
Why does this sentence use inni í instead of just í?
While í simply means in, adding the location adverb inni (indoors/inside) emphasizes being physically enclosed within the walls of the building.
Why are yfirgefnu and verksmiðjunni in the dative case?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a stationary location (answering where? rather than where to?). Since the person is already inside, the factory takes the dative case.
Why does the adjective yfirgefnu (abandoned) end in -u?
Because the noun it describes, verksmiðjunni, has the definite article attached (the -nni ending). When a noun is definite, the adjective before it must use the weak declension, which ends in -u for a feminine dative word.