Breakdown of Prentunin á skjölunum er mjög dýr.
vera
to be
mjög
very
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
dýr
expensive
skjalið
the document
prentunin
the printing
Questions & Answers about Prentunin á skjölunum er mjög dýr.
How did we get the word prentunin from the verb prenta?
The verb prenta (to print) drops its final -a and adds the suffix -un to create the action noun prentun (printing). Nouns created this way are always feminine. Here, it has the feminine singular definite article -in added to the end, making it prentunin (the printing).
Why do we use the preposition á here for "of" instead of using the genitive case?
While English says "the printing of the documents", Icelandic often avoids putting the target of an action noun into the genitive case. Instead, it frequently uses the preposition á followed by the dative case to link the action noun to the thing being acted upon.
What is the base form of skjölunum and why does it look like this here?
The base word is the neuter noun skjal (document), which becomes skjöl in the plural. The preposition á in this context requires the dative case. When we add the dative plural definite article to skjöl, the endings merge to form skjölunum (the documents).
Why is the adjective dýr used instead of the neuter form dýrt?
Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe. Even though the sentence mentions skjölunum (which is neuter), the adjective is describing prentunin (the printing). Since prentun is a feminine singular noun in the nominative case, we use the feminine singular form dýr.
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