Breakdown of Sko, hér eru hlýir ullarsokkar handa afa.
vera
to be
hér
here
afinn
the grandfather
hlýr
warm
handa
for (someone's benefit) (+ Dative)
sko
you know, look (softener)
ullarsokkurinn
the woollen sock
Questions & Answers about Sko, hér eru hlýir ullarsokkar handa afa.
Why use handa instead of fyrir to mean "for" in this sentence?
The preposition handa is used specifically when something is a gift or a tangible item intended for a recipient. If you used fyrir here, it could imply you are holding the socks on his behalf or doing a favor in his place, rather than giving the socks to him to keep.
Why is the word for grandpa spelled afa instead of afi?
The preposition handa always requires the following noun to be in the dative case. Afi is a weak masculine noun, and like most weak masculine nouns, its ending changes from -i in the nominative to -a in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases.
Why is there an -ar in the middle of ullarsokkar?
What case and gender is the adjective hlýir (warm)?
It is masculine, plural, and nominative. It has to match the noun it describes, sokkar. The masculine singular nominative is hlýr, and adding the masculine plural ending -ir makes it hlýir.
Is sko functioning as an imperative verb here?
Historically it comes from the imperative of skoða (to look at), but in modern Icelandic sko functions purely as an interjection. It is used as an attention-grabber, just like saying "Look," "See," or "Hey," at the start of an English sentence.
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