Questions & Answers about Þetta er þriggja tíma bíómynd.
Why is it þriggja instead of the normal word for three?
In Icelandic, to express a measurement like "a three-hour movie," you literally say "a movie of three hours." This means the phrase for "three hours" must be in the genitive (possessive) case. The genitive form of the number three is þriggja.
I thought tíma was a singular form (accusative, dative, or genitive). Why use the singular for "three hours"?
Bíómynd is a feminine noun, so why does the sentence start with the neuter þetta instead of þessi?
When "this is" is used as a dummy subject to introduce or define what something is, Icelandic always defaults to the neuter pronoun þetta, no matter the gender of the noun that follows. You would only use the feminine þessi if the pronoun was attached directly to the noun, as in þessi bíómynd er... (this movie is...).
Does this genitive structure apply to all numbers, like "a ten-hour movie"?