Breakdown of Hún er mjög lengi að teikna hvern bókstaf þegar hún æfir skrautskriftina.
vera
to be
hún
she
mjög
very
að
to (infinitive marker)
lengi
for a long time
teikna
to draw
þegar
when
æfa
to practice
hver
each / every
skrautskriftin
the calligraphy
bókstafurinn
the letter (of the alphabet)
Questions & Answers about Hún er mjög lengi að teikna hvern bókstaf þegar hún æfir skrautskriftina.
In Hún er mjög lengi að teikna, does the word lengi need to agree with the feminine subject Hún?
Why use bókstaf for "letter" instead of the word bréf?
English uses "letter" for two very different things, but Icelandic separates them clearly. A bókstafur (literally "book-letter") is a single character of the alphabet, which fits the context of drawing calligraphy. A bréf is a piece of mail or correspondence that you put in an envelope.
Why are the words hvern bókstaf in the accusative case here?
They act as the direct object of the verb teikna (to draw). Because she is drawing "each letter", the masculine pronoun hver (each) takes the accusative form hvern, and the masculine noun bókstafur drops its nominative -ur ending to become bókstaf.
How does the compound word skrautskriftina break down?
It is made up of skraut (ornament or decoration) and skrift (writing or script). The -ina at the end is the feminine singular definite article in the accusative case (because it is the direct object of æfir). Literally, it translates to "the ornamental writing".
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