Breakdown of Hún lærir ítölsku í skólanum.
hún
she
skólinn
the school
læra
to study
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
ítalska
Italian (the language)
Questions & Answers about Hún lærir ítölsku í skólanum.
Why is the word for "Italian" spelled ítölsku here instead of ítalska?
The verb læra (to learn) requires its object to be in the accusative case. The dictionary form for the Italian language is ítalska, which is a feminine noun. In the accusative case, the -a ending changes to -u.
What causes the a in ítalska to change to an ö in ítölsku?
This happens because of a very common rule in Icelandic called U-mutation. Whenever a word takes an ending that contains a u, it changes an a in the syllable right before it into an ö. So when the accusative ending -u was added, ítalska automatically became ítölsku.
Why is skólanum in the dative case here?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes being in a fixed location with no movement (answering "where?"). If she were walking into the school (answering "where to?"), í would take the accusative case instead.
The English translation says "at school", but doesn't skólanum mean "the school"?
Yes, skólanum includes the definite article (the -num ending). Unlike English, which drops the word "the" for general locations like "at school" or "at work", Icelandic usually keeps the definite article attached. So you say í skólanum even when you just mean attending school in general.
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