Breakdown of Þessi skóli er fyrir vestan fjörðinn.
vera
to be
skólinn
the school
þessi
this (m/f)
fyrir
on the ... side of (with directional adverbs)
vestan
from the west
fjörðurinn
the fjord
Questions & Answers about Þessi skóli er fyrir vestan fjörðinn.
Why do we say fyrir vestan instead of just using the basic word for 'west'?
To say something is located geographically in a certain direction relative to something else (like 'west of'), Icelandic uses the preposition fyrir followed by a directional word ending in -an. Here, that gives us fyrir vestan.
What does the -an ending on vestan actually mean?
By itself, the suffix -an usually means 'from' a direction (so vestan means 'from the west'). However, when paired with fyrir to describe a fixed location, the whole phrase just translates to 'west of' the landmark.
Why is the word for fjord, fjörðinn, in the accusative case here?
Complex spatial prepositions made of fyrir plus an -an direction word always force the noun that follows them into the accusative case.
How does the word fjörður change to become fjörðinn in this sentence?
The masculine noun fjörður drops its -ur ending in the accusative case, becoming fjörð. We then attach the masculine accusative definite article -inn ('the') to the end, resulting in fjörðinn.
I often default to 'þetta' for 'this'. Why is it þessi here?
The word for 'this' has to match the gender, number, and case of the noun it belongs to. Because skóli is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, we must use the masculine form þessi instead of the neuter þetta.
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