Breakdown of Ég borða hrísgrjón með öllum mat.
ég
I
borða
to eat
maturinn
the food
með
with
allur
all / everything / everyone
hrísgrjónin
the rice
Questions & Answers about Ég borða hrísgrjón með öllum mat.
Why is 'matur' written as mat here?
The preposition með (with) takes the dative case here. The dictionary form (nominative) is matur, but its dative form drops the -ur ending, becoming mat.
Why is it öllum instead of allur or allt?
The word for 'all' (allur) is an adjective that has to match the noun it describes in gender, number, and case. Since mat is masculine, singular, and in the dative case, allur changes to its dative masculine singular form, öllum.
I usually see allur used with a definite noun. Why is mat indefinite here?
In Icelandic, if you are talking about 'all the food' in a specific context, you use the definite article (like með öllum matnum). But here, the speaker means 'all food' in general. When making a broad, general statement like this, you leave the noun in its indefinite form.
Is hrísgrjón a singular or plural word?
It is actually a neuter plural word! A single grain of rice is eitt hrísgrjón (singular), but when talking about rice as a food or dish, Icelanders use the plural. It is in the accusative case here as the direct object of borða, and for neuter nouns, the accusative plural looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.
Learn Ég borða hrísgrjón með öllum mat and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free