Breakdown of Hún talar frönsku og auk þess spænsku.
og
and
hún
she
tala
to speak
spænska
Spanish
franska
French
auk þess
in addition
Questions & Answers about Hún talar frönsku og auk þess spænsku.
Why do the languages end in -u (frönsku, spænsku) instead of -a?
The verb tala (to speak) takes the accusative case when you are talking about speaking a language. Words for languages like franska (French) and spænska (Spanish) are weak feminine nouns, so their endings change from -a to -u in the accusative.
How exactly does the phrase auk þess work?
It literally translates to "besides that." The word auk is a preposition meaning "besides" or "in addition to," and it always forces the word that follows it into the genitive case. Þess is the genitive form of the pronoun það (it/that).
Why aren't frönsku and spænsku capitalized here?
Unlike in English, names of languages, nationalities, and days of the week are written with lowercase letters in Icelandic. You only capitalize them if they are the very first word in a sentence.
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