Breakdown of Flestir borkjarnanna geyma mikilvægar upplýsingar.
mikilvægur
important
upplýsingarnar
the information
geyma
to keep
flestur
most
borkjarninn
the core sample
Questions & Answers about Flestir borkjarnanna geyma mikilvægar upplýsingar.
Why is borkjarnanna in the genitive case here?
This is the partitive genitive, a formal construction used to express 'a quantity of the [noun]'. When following a quantifier like flestir (most), the noun is put into the genitive plural with the definite article attached. In casual everyday speech, you are much more likely to hear af plus the dative case, like flestir af borkjörnunum.
Why do we use the masculine form flestir for 'most' instead of the neuter flest?
The quantifier must agree in gender with the noun it quantifies, even though that noun is shifted into the genitive case as the object of the quantifier. Because borkjarni (core sample) is a masculine noun, the subject 'most' must take the masculine plural nominative form, flestir.
How is the definite suffix attached to form borkjarnanna?
The root word is borkjarni, a weak masculine noun. Its indefinite genitive plural is borkjarna. The definite article suffix for all genitive plural nouns is -nna. When you add it, the forms simply join together: borkjarna + -nna = borkjarnanna.
Why is 'important information' translated into the plural (mikilvægar upplýsingar)?
Unlike English, where 'information' is an uncountable singular noun, the Icelandic word upplýsing is almost exclusively used in the plural (upplýsingar). Because it is the direct object of the verb geyma (to store), both the noun and its adjective are in the accusative feminine plural.
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