Breakdown of Lánið er dýrt í þessum banka.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
dýr
expensive
þessi
this (m/f)
bankinn
the bank
lánið
the loan
Questions & Answers about Lánið er dýrt í þessum banka.
Why is the adjective dýrt ending in a -t here?
Adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. Because lánið (the loan) is a neuter noun, the base adjective dýr (expensive) takes the neuter ending -t to become dýrt.
How do we know to use the dative case after í in this sentence?
The preposition í can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the dative when talking about a fixed location (being in the bank), and the accusative when talking about movement (going into the bank). Here, the loan is just existing in the bank, so we use the dative.
Þessum means 'this', but how do you know which form of the word to use?
The word for 'this' (þessi) has to match the noun it goes with in gender, number, and case. Since banka is masculine, singular, and in the dative case (triggered by í), we use the masculine dative singular form þessum.
Why does the word for bank change from banki to banka here?
Banki is a weak masculine noun, meaning it ends in -i in its dictionary form. For these nouns, the ending changes to -a in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. Since it is in the dative case here, it becomes banka.
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