Breakdown of Við heyrum háværan smell sem kemur frá veggnum.
við
we
koma
to come
heyra
to hear
frá
from
veggurinn
the wall
sem
who / which / that
hávær
loud
smellurinn
the click
Questions & Answers about Við heyrum háværan smell sem kemur frá veggnum.
Why is the object háværan smell rather than hávær smellur?
The verb heyra (to hear) requires its object to be in the accusative case. The masculine noun smellur (click) drops its -ur ending in the accusative to become smell. The adjective hávær (loud) takes the masculine accusative singular ending -an to match it, giving us háværan smell.
Could we use the resultative conjunction þannig að instead of sem in this sentence?
No, because they serve different purposes. sem is a relative pronoun here (meaning "that" or "which"), describing the noun right before it (the click). Þannig að means "so" or "with the result that." You would use þannig að to add a consequence, for example: Við heyrum háværan smell, þannig að við vöknum (We hear a loud click, so we wake up).
In the clause sem kemur frá veggnum, what dictates that the verb is conjugated as kemur (comes)?
In a relative clause, the verb agrees with the noun that the relative pronoun sem refers to. Since sem refers back to háværan smell (a loud click), which is a singular noun, the verb must be in the third-person singular form, kemur. It does not agree with the main subject Við (we).
Why does the word for wall (veggur) change to veggnum here?
The preposition frá (from) always governs the dative case. The masculine noun veggur becomes vegg in the dative. Because the sentence specifies "from the wall" (definite), we add the masculine dative definite suffix -num, resulting in veggnum.
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