Breakdown of Hávaðinn pirrar nágrannana.
nágranninn
the neighbor
hávaðinn
the noise
pirra
to irritate, to annoy
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Icelandic grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Hávaðinn pirrar nágrannana.
Why does nágrannana look so repetitive at the end, and what case is it?
It is in the accusative plural with the definite article attached. The base word is the weak masculine noun nágranni (neighbor). Its accusative plural is nágranna. When we add the plural masculine accusative article -na, we get the double ending in nágrannana. It takes the accusative case here because it is the direct object of the verb pirra.
How do we form the definite version of hávaði?
Hávaði (noise) is a weak masculine noun, meaning it ends in a vowel in the nominative singular. To make it definite ('the noise'), we simply attach the masculine definite article -nn to the end, resulting in hávaðinn.
Can you break down the word nágranni?
It is built from the prefix ná- (meaning near or close) and granni (which on its own also means neighbor). You will spot this same prefix in related vocabulary like nágrenni (neighborhood).
Is pirra a regular verb?
Yes, pirra (to annoy or irritate) is a very standard, regular verb. Because it belongs to the most regular verb group (verbs ending in -a), we just add -r for the third-person singular present tense to get pirrar.