Questions & Answers about Hér stendur stórt fiskabúr.
Why is there no það in this sentence?
This demonstrates the það-drop rule. The standard sentence order would be Það stendur stórt fiskabúr hér (There stands a large aquarium here). But because we moved the adverb hér to the front, the verb stendur must take the second position to satisfy the V2 rule. Whenever an existential sentence is inverted like this, the dummy subject það is completely deleted. You cannot say Hér stendur það stórt fiskabúr.
If það gets dropped, how do we know if a sentence has a dummy subject or an actual pronoun meaning 'it'?
Context tells you! If you were talking about a specific aquarium and wanted to say 'Here it stands', you would say Hér stendur það. In that case, það is a real personal pronoun referring to a specific noun, so it is kept during inversion. But in our sentence, we are introducing a new aquarium, so the það would just be a grammatical placeholder (a dummy subject). Dummy placeholders are always dropped in inverted clauses.
Why does the adjective take the neuter form stórt when it comes right after the verb?
Stórt is neuter nominative singular because it must agree with the noun it modifies, fiskabúr. Even though stórt fiskabúr comes after the verb stendur due to the inverted word order, it is still the true grammatical subject of the sentence.
What are the component parts of the compound noun fiskabúr?
It is made from fiskur (fish) and búr (cage, pantry, or enclosure). The first word is in the genitive plural form (fiska), making it literally an enclosure of fishes. The gender of an Icelandic compound noun always comes from its final part, so because búr is neuter, fiskabúr is also neuter.
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