Breakdown of Samkvæmt manntalinu býr meirihlutinn í borginni.
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
borgin
the city (f)
búa
to live (in a place), to dwell
samkvæmt
according to
Questions & Answers about Samkvæmt manntalinu býr meirihlutinn í borginni.
Why is the word for census written as manntalinu here?
The preposition samkvæmt (according to) always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. The base neuter noun manntal (census) becomes manntali in the dative, and adding the definite suffix gives us manntalinu.
Why is the verb býr placed before the subject meirihlutinn?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. Because the sentence starts with the prepositional phrase Samkvæmt manntalinu in the first position, the verb býr must take the second position. This pushes the subject to the third position right after the verb.
How is the word meirihlutinn formed?
It is a compound of meiri (more or greater) and hluti (part). Together they form the masculine noun meirihluti (majority). Here it is the subject of the sentence, so it takes the nominative definite article, making it meirihlutinn (the majority).
As a refresher, why does í borginni take the dative case rather than the accusative?
The preposition í governs the dative case when describing a static location, such as where a group currently lives. If the action involved motion into the city from the outside, it would take the accusative case instead.