Breakdown of Í skáldsögunni er kóngurinn skapsamur og tilfinningasamur.
vera
to be
og
and
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
kóngurinn
the king
skáldsagan
the novel
skapsamur
temperamental
tilfinningasamur
emotional
Questions & Answers about Í skáldsögunni er kóngurinn skapsamur og tilfinningasamur.
How does the suffix -samur create the adjectives in this sentence?
The suffix -samur is added to nouns to describe a tendency, character trait, or propensity—similar to the English suffixes "-ous", "-ful", or "-y". By attaching it to the noun skap (mood, temper), we get skapsamur (temperamental). Attached to tilfinning (emotion, feeling), we get tilfinningasamur (emotional).
Why is there an extra "a" in tilfinningasamur but not in skapsamur?
When building words with suffixes, Icelandic often uses the genitive case or a connecting vowel to glue the parts together. Skapsamur attaches the suffix directly to the word stem skap-. However, tilfinningasamur uses the genitive plural form of the noun, tilfinninga, as a bridge to connect to the -samur suffix.
Would the endings of skapsamur and tilfinningasamur change if the sentence was about a queen?
Yes! Because adjectives must agree with the noun they describe, these are currently in the masculine nominative singular to match kóngurinn (the king). If the subject were feminine, like drottningin (the queen), you would drop the masculine -ur ending. This triggers a U-shift, changing the a in the suffix to an ö, resulting in the feminine forms skapsöm and tilfinningasöm.
Why is the word for "the novel" in the dative case (skáldsögunni)?
The preposition í governs the dative case when it describes a stationary location or state (where something is), rather than movement towards a destination. Being "in the novel" is treated as a fixed abstract location, so the feminine noun skáldsaga (with its definite article attached) shifts to its dative form, skáldsögunni.
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