Breakdown of Markaðsfræðingurinn ætlar að greina kauphegðun ríkra.
að
to (infinitive marker)
ætla
to intend
ríkur
rich
greina
to analyze
markaðsfræðingurinn
the market researcher
kauphegðunin
the buying behavior
Questions & Answers about Markaðsfræðingurinn ætlar að greina kauphegðun ríkra.
Why is ríkra used here instead of ríks fólks (rich people)?
You can use an adjective on its own to refer to a demographic group. This is called a substantivized adjective. Here, ríkra is the strong plural genitive form of ríkur (rich), directly translating to 'of the wealthy'. It is a concise and common way to express this demographic in Icelandic without needing the word fólk.
Since it translates to 'the wealthy', why doesn't ríkra have a definite article or use the weak declension?
When plural adjectives are used independently to describe general, undefined groups of people (like 'the rich' or 'the young' in English), Icelandic typically uses the strong declension without any definite article. Adding the free-standing article to make it hinna ríku is possible but sounds much more formal and poetic.
Why is ríkra in the genitive case?
It modifies the noun kauphegðun (buying behavior) to show possession or association, meaning 'the buying behavior OF the wealthy'. In Icelandic, this relationship is expressed by putting the modifying word directly into the genitive case.
Notice the 's' in Markaðsfræðingurinn. Is that a genitive 's'?
Yes, markaðs is the genitive singular of markaður (market). It connects with fræðingur (specialist or scholar) to form the compound noun markaðsfræðingur (market researcher). Using the genitive case for the first word is a very common way to glue compound nouns together.
What case is kauphegðun in, and why?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb greina (to analyze). Because hegðun (behavior) is a feminine noun that ends in '-un', its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.
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