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Brauðið harðnar hratt ef þú lokar ekki pokanum.

Brauðið harðnar hratt ef þú lokar ekki pokanum.
The bread hardens fast if you don't close the bag.
From Lesson 422:Verbs of change (-na)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Brauðið harðnar hratt ef þú lokar ekki pokanum.

How is the verb harðnar formed from the adjective for 'hard'?
It is built from the root of the adjective harður (hard). By dropping the masculine ending and adding the productive suffix -na, we create the verb harðna, which means to become hard. These -na verbs describe a process of changing state.
Could I use harðna if someone is actively making something hard, like 'You harden the bread'?
No, verbs derived with the -na suffix are strictly intransitive, meaning they never take a direct object. They describe a change happening automatically to the subject itself. If you want to say that an external force is making something hard, you would use the transitive counterpart herða instead.
Why do we use hratt here instead of hraður for 'fast'?
Hratt acts as an adverb modifying the verb harðnar (describing how it hardens). In Icelandic, you typically form an adverb from an adjective by taking its neuter singular form. The neuter form of the adjective hraður is hratt.
Why is the word for the bag (pokanum) in the dative case here?
This is a good refresher on verb government: the verb loka (to close) requires the object being closed to be in the dative case. Since poki (a bag) is a masculine noun, its dative singular form with the attached definite article becomes pokanum.

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