Breakdown of Safnkosturinn í þessu skjalasafni er merkilegur.
þetta
this
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
merkilegur
remarkable
skjalasafnið
the archive
safnkosturinn
the collection
Questions & Answers about Safnkosturinn í þessu skjalasafni er merkilegur.
Safnkosturinn looks like a compound word. What are its parts?
It is made up of safn (collection, museum) and kostur (which can mean option, advantage, or provisions). Together, safnkostur refers to the holdings, inventory, or collection of items within an archive or museum. The -inn at the end is the attached masculine definite article for 'the'.
Why are we using þessu skjalasafni instead of the dictionary form?
The preposition í (in) takes the dative case when describing a static location (where something currently is). Since skjalasafn (archive) is a neuter noun, its dative form is skjalasafni. The demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this' must agree with it, becoming the neuter dative þessu.
Why does merkilegur end in -ur?
Adjectives in Icelandic must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Because the subject safnkosturinn is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, the adjective merkilegur (remarkable) takes the masculine singular nominative ending -ur.
How could we use the current lesson's focus, vera til (to exist), to rewrite this as 'A remarkable collection exists in this archive'?
You would use the dummy subject það along with the particle verb vera til. The rewritten sentence would be: Það er til merkilegur safnkostur í þessu skjalasafni.
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