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Lyktin er ógeðsleg en skordýrið er ósýnilegt.

Lyktin er ógeðsleg en skordýrið er ósýnilegt.
The smell is disgusting but the insect is invisible.
From Lesson 302:Negative adjective prefix (ó-)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Lyktin er ógeðsleg en skordýrið er ósýnilegt.

vera
to be
en
but
skordýrið
the insect
ógeðslegur
disgusting
lyktin
the smell
ósýnilegur
invisible

Questions & Answers about Lyktin er ógeðsleg en skordýrið er ósýnilegt.

How does the negative prefix ó- change the meaning in ógeðsleg?
The prefix ó- works just like un- or in- in English. The base adjective is geðslegur, which means pleasant or appealing (from geð, meaning mind or mood). By adding ó-, it flips to mean unpleasant or disgusting.
Why do the two adjectives in this sentence have different endings (ógeðsleg and ósýnilegt)?
Adjectives in Icelandic must match the gender of the noun they describe. Lyktin (the smell) is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine adjective form ógeðsleg. Skordýrið (the insect) is a neuter noun, so its adjective needs the neuter -t ending, making it ósýnilegt.
What is the root word behind ósýnilegt?
If you remove the ó- prefix and the neuter -t ending, you are left with sýnileg-, from the adjective sýnilegur (visible). This is built from the noun sýn, which means sight or vision. So ósýnilegur literally means un-see-able.
The word for insect, skordýr, looks like a compound word. What does it literally mean?
It is a compound of skor (score, cut, or notch) and dýr (animal). So it literally means a notched animal. Interestingly, this perfectly matches the English word insect, which comes from Latin meaning cut into sections!

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