Breakdown of Við stöflum bókunum í eina hrúgu.
bókin
the book
við
we
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
einn
one
stafla
to stack
hrúgan
the pile
Questions & Answers about Við stöflum bókunum í eina hrúgu.
Why is bókunum in the dative case instead of the accusative?
The verb stafla (to stack) belongs to a group of verbs that describe physically moving or manipulating an object. Just like throwing or lifting, stacking requires you to handle something, so the object being manipulated takes the dative case.
I thought the plural of bók was bækur. Why does it revert to an ó in bókunum?
The vowel shift that changes the ó to æ only happens in the nominative and accusative plural forms (bækur). In the dative plural, the base root is used before adding the dative plural ending -um and the definite article -num, resulting in bókunum.
Why does the preposition í take the accusative case (eina hrúgu) here rather than the dative?
The preposition í takes the accusative when it shows direction, movement, or a change of state, translating closer to into. Because you are actively moving the books into a pile, it is accusative. If the books were already resting statically in a pile, í would take the dative case.
Does eina just mean a in this sentence, like into a pile?
No, Icelandic does not have an indefinite article for a or an. If you just wanted to say into a pile, you would leave it out and simply say í hrúgu. Using eina specifically emphasizes the number, meaning the books go into exactly one pile.
Learn Við stöflum bókunum í eina hrúgu 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