Questions & Answers about Laxinn kemur úr ánni á sumrin.
Why is úr used for "from" here instead of frá?
In Icelandic, úr specifically means "out of," while frá generally means "away from." Because the salmon is physically coming out of the water inside the river, úr is the correct choice.
What is the dictionary form of ánni, and how is this word built?
The base word is á (river), which is a feminine noun. The preposition úr forces the following noun into the dative case. The dative form of á is also just á, and when you attach the dative feminine definite article (-nni), it becomes ánni (the river).
The English translation says "in the summer" (singular). Why does the Icelandic sentence use the plural form sumrin?
To express that an action happens habitually every season, Icelandic uses the plural form of that season. So á sumrin literally translates to "in the summers". If you were talking about an event happening during one specific summer, you would use the singular form, á sumrinu.
Why does the preposition á take the accusative case (sumrin) here instead of the dative?
The preposition á can take either the accusative or dative case. In time expressions, á takes the accusative case to describe a recurring period or a general span of time (like á sumrin for "every summer"). It takes the dative case when referring to a specific, single block of time.