Breakdown of Æðin í henni er blá.
vera
to be
hún
she
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
blár
blue
æðin
the vein
Questions & Answers about Æðin í henni er blá.
Why does this sentence use í henni (in her) instead of the possessive word hennar (her)?
This is the standard Icelandic way to talk about internal body parts. Instead of saying "her vein," you say "the vein in her" by using the definite noun æðin followed by the preposition í and a dative pronoun, henni.
Why is the pronoun in the dative case (henni) instead of the accusative (hana)?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a fixed position or location, like being located inside a body. If it described movement into something, it would take the accusative case instead.
If we were talking about an external body part like a hand or a nose, would we still use í henni?
No, for body parts on the surface of the body, you usually use the preposition á (on) instead of í (in). For example, "her hand" would be höndin á henni.
How do we know the gender of the noun æð from this sentence?
You can tell it is feminine from two clues. First, the definite article ending is -in (æðin). Second, the adjective for blue is in its feminine singular form, blá, rather than the masculine form blár.
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