Breakdown of Um hvað talar hugurinn í draumnum?
tala
to speak
hvað
what
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
um
about
draumurinn
the dream
hugurinn
the mind
Questions & Answers about Um hvað talar hugurinn í draumnum?
Why does the sentence start with Um hvað, and what case is hvað in?
In English, we often leave prepositions at the end of a question, like asking what something talks about. Icelandic does not leave prepositions dangling; they stay right before the question word. The preposition um always forces the following word into the accusative case. For the interrogative pronoun meaning what, the accusative form is exactly the same as the nominative: hvað.
Why does the verb talar come before the subject hugurinn?
This is due to the V2 (verb-second) rule. The phrase Um hvað counts as the first piece of information in the sentence. Therefore, the verb talar must immediately follow it in the second position, pushing the subject hugurinn to the third position.
What case is hugurinn in, and how is it formed?
It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence (the mind is the thing doing the talking). The base masculine noun is hugur (mind). To say the mind, you attach the nominative masculine definite article -inn to the end, creating hugurinn.
Why does the word for dream become draumnum?
The preposition í dictates the dative case when describing a static location, such as being in the dream. The root masculine noun is draumur. When you put it in the dative case and add the definite article suffix to mean the dream, it changes to draumnum.
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