Fallegi trjálundurinn er ofan byggingarreitsins.
The beautiful tree grove is above the building plot.
Breakdown of Fallegi trjálundurinn er ofan byggingarreitsins.
vera
to be
fallegur
beautiful
byggingarreiturinn
the building plot
trjálundurinn
the tree grove
Questions & Answers about Fallegi trjálundurinn er ofan byggingarreitsins.
Why does byggingarreitsins take the genitive case here?
The spatial preposition ofan (above) dictates the case of the noun that follows it, and it strictly requires the genitive case. That is why the masculine noun reitur (plot or square) becomes reits, and with the definite article it becomes reitsins.
Could I use yfir instead of ofan to say "above"?
You could, but they behave differently and have slightly different nuances. Yfir takes the dative or accusative and often means "over" or "directly above" (like a lamp over a table). Ofan takes the genitive and is frequently used in landscaping or geography to mean "higher up on the terrain" or "upslope from", which fits perfectly when describing a grove relative to a building plot.
How exactly is the compound word byggingarreitsins put together?
It is made of bygging (building) and reitur (plot). In Icelandic compound nouns, the first word often takes the genitive case to connect it to the second word. So bygging becomes byggingar. Then we add the main noun in the genitive (because of the preposition ofan), making reits, and finally attach the genitive definite article ins, resulting in the full word byggingarreitsins.
Why is the adjective fallegi in the weak form if there is no free-standing article like hinn before it?