Breakdown of Vöðvinn stífnar alltaf eftir erfiða æfingu.
alltaf
always
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
æfingin
the practice
erfiður
difficult
vöðvinn
the muscle
stífna
to stiffen
Questions & Answers about Vöðvinn stífnar alltaf eftir erfiða æfingu.
How is the verb stífnar formed from an adjective?
Stífnar is the present tense of stífna (to become stiff). It is built by taking the root of the adjective stífur (stiff) and adding the suffix -na. This is a very common and productive way in Icelandic to create verbs that mean "to become [adjective]."
Can I use stífna to say something else stiffened the muscle, like "the cold stiffens the muscle"?
What conjugation pattern does stífna follow?
Like almost all -na verbs, it belongs to the very regular -a conjugation group. This means it takes -ar in the present singular, as seen in stífnar, and -aði in the past tense (stífnaði).
Why are erfiða æfingu in the accusative case?
The preposition eftir triggers the accusative case when it is used to mean "after" in a temporal sense (after an event or point in time). If eftir were used in a spatial sense to mean "behind" or "along," it would take the dative case instead.
The base word for workout is æfing. Why does it end in -u here?
Æfing is a feminine noun ending in -ing. A highly reliable rule is that feminine nouns ending in -ing or -ung add a -u in the accusative, dative, and genitive singular cases. Since eftir forces the accusative here, it becomes æfingu.
Learn Vöðvinn stífnar alltaf eftir erfiða æfingu and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free