Breakdown of Þetta er eitt af þekktustu tónskáldunum.
þetta
this
vera
to be
einn
one
af
of (in quantity expressions)
þekktur
known
tónskáldið
the composer
Questions & Answers about Þetta er eitt af þekktustu tónskáldunum.
Why is it eitt af here instead of the standard einn af?
Why is tónskáldunum in the definite form?
When saying "one of the [things]", the Icelandic construction einn af requires the following noun to be in the dative plural and usually definite. tónskáldunum is the dative plural definite form, literally meaning "of the composers".
Why does the adjective þekktustu end in -u rather than a standard dative plural ending like -um?
Because the noun tónskáldunum is definite, the adjective before it must use the weak declension. For all genders, the weak dative plural ending for adjectives (including superlatives like this one) is simply -u.
Why does the sentence start with Þetta if we are talking about a specific composer?
When using "This is" to introduce or point something out, Icelandic always uses the fixed neuter singular word Þetta as a dummy subject. It stays Þetta no matter what the gender or number of the actual subject is.
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