Breakdown of Tölvuþrjóturinn skrifaði skilaboðin í dulmáli.
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
skrifa
to write
skilaboðin
the message
tölvuþrjóturinn
the hacker
dulmálið
the cipher
Questions & Answers about Tölvuþrjóturinn skrifaði skilaboðin í dulmáli.
The word tölvuþrjóturinn is a great compound. What exactly does the -þrjótur part mean?
It translates to a villain, thug, or scoundrel. So a hacker is literally a "computer villain" in Icelandic! The word is a masculine noun, and the -inn at the end is the attached definite article ("the").
The English translation says "messages". How do we know skilaboðin is plural here, rather than singular?
Skilaboð is a neuter noun, and neuter nouns that don't have an ending in the nominative singular look exactly the same in the nominative plural. However, the attached definite article reveals the number here: the singular "the message" would be skilaboðið, while the plural "the messages" is skilaboðin.
How is the word dulmáli constructed?
It is a compound of the prefix dul- (meaning hidden, secret, or concealed) and mál (language or speech). So í dulmáli literally translates to "in hidden language," which is the standard way to say "in a cipher" or "in code." It takes the dative case here because of the preposition í.
Since this lesson is about the prefixes auð- and tor-, how could we use them to describe these encrypted messages?
If the cipher made the messages very hard to read, you could describe them as torlesin (hard to read) or torskilin (hard to understand). If the hacker did a bad job and the code was easy to break, they might be auðlesin (easy to read) or auðráðin (easy to decipher). Notice how these adjectives take the neuter plural ending -in to agree with the noun skilaboðin.
Learn Tölvuþrjóturinn skrifaði skilaboðin í dulmáli 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