Breakdown of Eru til suðrænir ávextir hérna?
hérna
here (colloquial, pointing)
ávöxturinn
the fruit
vera til
to exist / be available
suðrænn
Southern
Questions & Answers about Eru til suðrænir ávextir hérna?
How exactly does the -rænn suffix work in the word suðrænir?
The suffix -rænn creates adjectives that describe origin, direction, or nature. It attaches to the root of suður (South) to make suðrænn, which means "Southern" or "tropical" (referring to origin). It is in the masculine plural nominative form (suðrænir) here to match ávextir (fruits).
Why is the word suðrænir and not "suður-rænir"?
Why do we need the word til in eru til... hérna?
In Icelandic, the phrase að vera til means "to exist" or "to be available." If you just said eru suðrænir ávextir hérna?, it would mean "are the tropical fruits located here?" (asking about their physical location in a room). Adding til changes it to "do tropical fruits exist/are they available here?".
Ávextir is masculine plural nominative, but why is it in the nominative case instead of the accusative?
Because the verb vera (to be) does not take an object in the accusative case; it simply links a subject to a state of being. Even though English uses the dummy subject "there" in "are there," suðrænir ávextir is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence in Icelandic, so it stays in the nominative case.
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