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Landeigandinn fann ruslið utan trjálundarins.

Landeigandinn fann ruslið utan trjálundarins.
The landowner found the garbage outside of the tree grove.
From Lesson 362:Spatial prepositions with the genitive (innan, utan, ofan, neðan)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Landeigandinn fann ruslið utan trjálundarins.

Why does the preposition utan force trjálundarins into the genitive case?
In Icelandic, spatial prepositions ending in '-an' such as innan (inside), utan (outside), ofan (above), and neðan (below) govern the genitive case when used on their own.
In everyday speech, I usually hear fyrir utan for 'outside'. Can I use that here?
Yes, you can! However, remember that compound prepositions with fyrir take the accusative case. If you use fyrir utan, the sentence changes to ...fyrir utan trjálundinn. Using just utan with the genitive is perfectly correct but sounds slightly more formal or literary.
How is the compound word trjálundarins formed?
It is a combination of trjá, which is the irregular genitive plural of tré (tree), and lundarins, the definite genitive singular of the masculine noun lundur (grove). When combined, it acts as a single genitive noun meaning 'the grove of trees'.
What kind of noun is eigandi in Landeigandinn, and why does it look like a verb?
Eigandi (owner) comes from the present participle of the verb eiga (to own), similar to English words ending in '-ing'. In Icelandic, these words act as weak masculine nouns. When you add the definite article -nn to the nominative eigandi, the final 'i' drops out, creating eigandinn.

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