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Questions & Answers about Hver myrti hana?
Why is the pronoun hana in the accusative case here?
The verb myrða (to murder) takes a direct object in the accusative case. Since we are saying that someone murdered "her", the pronoun hún (she) must change to its accusative form, hana.
Does the question word hver change depending on its role in the sentence?
Yes! Hver means "who" and it declines for case just like a noun or pronoun. Here it is in the nominative case because "who" is the subject doing the murdering. If you were asking "Whom did she murder?" where "who" is the object, it would take the accusative case: Hvern myrti hún?
How does the infinitive myrða become the past tense form myrti?
Myrða is a weak verb. To form the past tense, you remove the infinitive -a ending and add a past tense suffix. When a verb stem ends in the letter ð, that letter typically drops or shifts to t before the past tense suffix -ti, which is why myrð- becomes myrti.