Breakdown of Stífleikinn í mjóbakinu á henni er alltof mikill.
vera
to be
hún
she
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)
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
alltof
way too
stífleikinn
the stiffness
mjóbakið
the lower back
Questions & Answers about Stífleikinn í mjóbakinu á henni er alltof mikill.
Why do we say mjóbakinu á henni instead of mjóbaki hennar?
This is the standard way to talk about external body parts in Icelandic. Instead of using a possessive word like the genitive hennar (her), we use the definite article on the body part (mjóbakinu) followed by the preposition á and the person in the dative case (henni). It literally translates to 'the lower back on her'.
Since we know whose back it is, why does mjóbakinu have the definite ending -nu?
In Icelandic, when you use the 'body part + á + person' structure, the body part must always be in the definite form. Even though English says 'her lower back', Icelandic phrases this as 'the lower back on her', making the definite ending mandatory.
Why are there two prepositions, í and á, right next to each other in í mjóbakinu á henni?
They do two different jobs here. The preposition í tells us where the stiffness is located (í mjóbakinu means 'in the lower back'). The preposition á is the one used for the possession of external body parts, linking the back to the person (á henni means 'on her').
Why is the adjective mikill in the masculine form here?
It has to agree with the subject of the sentence, stífleikinn (the stiffness), which is a masculine noun. Even though we just mentioned henni (a woman) and mjóbakinu (a neuter noun), mikill is describing the stiffness itself.
What are the parts that make up the word mjóbak?
It comes from the adjective mjór (narrow or thin) and the noun bak (back). So the lower back in Icelandic is literally the 'narrow back'.
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