Breakdown of Seinna í sögunni er gæfusami prinsinn líka tillitssamur.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
seinna
later
sagan
the story
líka
also
prinsinn
the prince
gæfusamur
fortunate
tillitssamur
considerate
Questions & Answers about Seinna í sögunni er gæfusami prinsinn líka tillitssamur.
The adjectives gæfusami and tillitssamur both end in -samur. What exactly does this suffix mean?
The suffix -samur is attached to nouns to form adjectives describing a tendency, disposition, or propensity. It is similar to the English suffixes '-ful' or '-some'. So gæfusamur (from the noun gæfa, meaning luck) means 'fortunate' or 'lucky', and tillitssamur (from tillit, meaning consideration) means 'considerate'.
Why is there an 's' in the middle of tillitssamur but a 'u' in the middle of gæfusamur?
When adding the -samur suffix to a noun, the noun is usually put into the genitive (possessive) case. The noun tillit is neuter, and its genitive is tillits, which gives us tillitssamur. The noun gæfa is a weak feminine noun, and its genitive form is gæfu, which gives us gæfusamur.
Both adjectives describe the prince, so why is one weak (gæfusami) and the other strong (tillitssamur)?
Adjectives placed directly before a definite noun (like prinsinn) must use the weak declension, which gives us gæfusami. However, tillitssamur comes after the verb er as a predicative adjective. Predicative adjectives always take the strong declension, matching the subject in gender, number, and case (nominative masculine singular).
Why is saga written as sögunni here?
The preposition í takes the dative case when describing a static location, which includes abstract locations like being 'in a story'. The word saga is a weak feminine noun. Its dative singular form is sögu, and when you add the dative feminine definite article -nni, it becomes sögunni.
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