Breakdown of Stráklingurinn beið eftir litla gæslingnum.
lítill
small / a little (small amount)
bíða
to wait
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
stráklingurinn
the little boy
Questions & Answers about Stráklingurinn beið eftir litla gæslingnum.
How does the -lingur suffix change the meaning of the base words in stráklingurinn and gæslingnum?
The suffix -lingur always creates a masculine noun. It has two main uses shown in this sentence: it acts as a diminutive to mean a small version of something (strákur becomes stráklingur, little boy), or it denotes the offspring of an animal (gæs becomes gæslingur, gosling).
What happens to the ending of strákur when -lingur is added?
The original nominative ending -ur of strákur is dropped before adding the suffix, creating stráklingur instead of the awkward-sounding strákurlingur.
Why is the phrase litla gæslingnum in the dative case here?
The preposition eftir governs the dative case when used with the verb bíða to mean waiting for. Therefore, the entire phrase following it must be in the dative.
Since gæslingnum is a masculine dative noun, why is the adjective litla and not the strong dative form litlum?
Because the noun has the definite article attached (-num in gæslingnum), the adjective must use the weak declension. In the weak declension, the ending for a masculine dative singular adjective is -a, which gives us litla.