Breakdown of Ísbjörninn kom með ísnum í fyrra.
koma
to come
ísinn
the ice cream
með
with
í fyrra
last year
björninn
the bear
Questions & Answers about Ísbjörninn kom með ísnum í fyrra.
Why is "ísnum" in the dative case here instead of the accusative?
The preposition með changes meaning based on the case that follows it. When it takes the dative case, as in ísnum, it means "along with." If it took the accusative case here (með ísinn), the phrase koma með would mean "to bring" — making it sound like the polar bear brought the ice to Iceland as a gift!
"Í fyrra" is translated as "last year," but I do not see the word for year. Why is that?
The phrase í fyrra is a fixed expression that means "last year." The word fyrra comes from fyrri, which means "earlier" or "former." So it literally translates to "in the former," and the word for year (ár) is simply implied by native speakers.
Both "ísbjörninn" and "ísnum" contain masculine nouns, so how do their definite articles work here?
Their roles in the sentence dictate their endings. The polar bear, ísbjörninn, uses the nominative article -inn because the bear is the main subject doing the action. The ice, ísnum, uses the dative article -num because it comes directly after the preposition með.
Wait, is there a difference between "ís" meaning "ice" and "ís" meaning "ice cream"?
Nope, it is the exact same word! In Icelandic, ís is used for both natural ice (like the sea ice in this sentence) and ice cream. You just have to rely on context to know whether someone is talking about a frozen landscape or a vanilla cone.
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