Breakdown of Hann les erlendar fréttir á hverjum degi.
hann
he
lesa
to read
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
dagurinn
the day (m)
fréttin
the news
hver
each / every
erlendur
foreign
Questions & Answers about Hann les erlendar fréttir á hverjum degi.
Why is erlendar in the plural form when "news" is singular in English?
In English, "news" is an uncountable singular noun, but in Icelandic, frétt (a news item) is countable. To talk about the news in general, Icelandic uses the plural form fréttir. Because the noun is plural, the adjective erlendur (foreign) must also be in its plural form, erlendar.
Why do we use the dative case in á hverjum degi?
The phrase for "every day" in Icelandic translates literally as "on every day". The preposition á (on) governs the dative case when talking about recurring points in time like this. Therefore, both hver (every) and dagur (day) take their dative masculine singular forms.
Why does the vowel change from "a" to "e" in degi?
The word dagur (day) is a bit of an exception. Many masculine nouns ending in -ur just drop the ending and add -i in the dative case. However, dagur also undergoes a historical vowel shift where the a changes to an e, making the dative form degi.
What case is erlendar fréttir in?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb lesa (to read). Since fréttir is a feminine plural noun, its accusative form happens to be identical to its nominative form. The adjective matches it with the feminine plural accusative ending, becoming erlendar.
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