Breakdown of Vöðvinn í lærinu á honum er mjög harður.
vera
to be
hann
he
mjög
very
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
harður
hard
vöðvinn
the muscle
lærið
the thigh
Questions & Answers about Vöðvinn í lærinu á honum er mjög harður.
Why do we say lærinu á honum instead of just hans læri for 'his thigh'?
In Icelandic, we don't usually use simple possessive pronouns (like hans) for external body parts. Instead, we use the inalienable possession structure. We make the body part definite (lærinu, meaning 'the thigh') and follow it with á plus the dative pronoun (honum), literally translating to 'the thigh on him'.
Why are both lærinu and honum in the dative case?
They are in the dative case for two separate reasons! The word lærinu is dative because the preposition í (in) takes the dative when describing a static location. The pronoun honum is dative because the preposition á (on) always takes the dative in this specific body-part possession structure.
Why is harður in the masculine form if lærinu (thigh) is neuter?
Adjectives always agree with the noun they are describing. Here, harður (hard) is describing the subject of the sentence, vöðvinn (the muscle), which is a masculine noun. The phrase í lærinu á honum just tells us where the muscle is, but the muscle itself is the thing that is hard.
How does the word vöðvinn break down?
The base word is vöðvi (muscle), which is a weak masculine noun. To make it definite ('the muscle'), we add the masculine suffix -nn. Because it is a weak noun ending in a vowel, that final -i doesn't disappear, giving us vöðvinn.
Learn Vöðvinn í lærinu á honum er mjög harður and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free