Breakdown of Sagan sem rituð var af bróður hans er sönn.
vera
to be
bróðirinn
the brother
hans
his
sagan
the story
sem
who / which / that
sannur
true
rita
to write (formally)
af
by (agent of a passive)
Questions & Answers about Sagan sem rituð var af bróður hans er sönn.
Why is the word order sem rituð var instead of the usual sem var rituð?
This is a classic example of stylistic fronting. In relative clauses starting with sem where there is no separate subject (because sem acts as the subject), Icelandic often pulls the past participle (rituð) in front of the finite verb (var). It sounds very natural and slightly more elevated than sem var rituð.
Why does the participle take the form rituð here?
In Icelandic passive constructions, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender, number, and case. Since the subject it refers back to is Sagan (a feminine, singular, nominative noun), the past participle of the verb rita becomes rituð.
Could I use skrifuð instead of rituð?
Yes, sem skrifuð var is perfectly fine and means the exact same thing. Rita is just a slightly more formal or literary word for 'to write' than skrifa, which fits nicely when talking about a saga (a story, history, or tale).
Why is the word for brother bróður instead of bróðir?
In a passive sentence, the person who performs the action is introduced by the preposition af (by). The preposition af always forces the following noun into the dative case, and the dative form of bróðir is bróður.
Why is the final word sönn rather than sannur?
Sönn is the feminine, singular, nominative form of the adjective sannur (true). It has to agree with the main subject of the sentence, Sagan. The root vowel changes from 'a' to 'ö' because of a historical ending, which is a very common mutation pattern for feminine adjectives in Icelandic.
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