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Gamli bóndabærinn er sveitalegur en svolítið kaldalegur.

Gamli bóndabærinn er sveitalegur en svolítið kaldalegur.
The old farm is rustic but a bit cold-looking.
From Lesson 466:Adjective suffix (-legur)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Gamli bóndabærinn er sveitalegur en svolítið kaldalegur.

vera
to be
en
but
gamall
old
bóndabærinn
the farm
svolítið
a little
kaldalegur
uninviting
sveitalegur
rustic

Questions & Answers about Gamli bóndabærinn er sveitalegur en svolítið kaldalegur.

How does the -legur suffix change the meaning of the base words in sveitalegur and kaldalegur?
The -legur suffix is highly productive and works much like '-ly' or '-ish' in English. When added to a noun like sveit (countryside), it creates an adjective meaning 'having the quality of' that noun (sveitalegur = rustic). When added to an adjective like kaldur (cold), it specifically shifts the meaning to describe appearance. The farm isn't necessarily physically cold inside, but it looks cold or uninviting (kaldalegur).
Why is there an extra 'a' in the middle of kaldalegur?
When forming -legur adjectives from existing adjective roots, a connecting vowel (very often -a-) is frequently inserted between the root and the suffix to make the word flow better. The root of kaldur is kald-, which becomes kaldalegur rather than the difficult-to-pronounce 'kaldlegur'.
Why is the word for 'old' written as gamli instead of its dictionary form gamall?
This is a quick refresher on weak adjectives! Because the adjective is modifying a definite noun (bóndabærinn, the farm), it must use the weak declension. Gamli is the weak masculine nominative form of gamall.
Why doesn't the word svolítið change to masculine to agree with the masculine noun bóndabærinn?
In this sentence, svolítið (a little bit / somewhat) is acting as an adverb modifying the adjective kaldalegur, not as an adjective modifying the farm itself. Because adverbs in Icelandic do not inflect for gender or number, it stays in its default, uninflected neuter form.
How is the compound noun bóndabærinn constructed?
It is made up of bóndi (farmer) and bær (farm / town). When forming the compound, the first word takes its genitive singular form, which for bóndi is bónda. Then the definite article -inn is attached to the very end to make it 'the farmer's farm' or simply 'the farmhouse'.

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