Breakdown of Gesturinn nýtur bara tvöfalda drykkjarins síns þrátt fyrir lætin.
bara
just / only
gesturinn
the guest (m)
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
njóta
to enjoy
drykkurinn
the drink
þrátt fyrir
despite (+ Accusative)
lætin
the noise (commotion)
tvöfaldur
double
Questions & Answers about Gesturinn nýtur bara tvöfalda drykkjarins síns þrátt fyrir lætin.
How does bara act as a mitigating particle in this sentence?
While bara literally means "just" or "only", here it softens the statement to make it sound more conversational and relaxed. It implies the guest is simply minding his own business and happily having his drink, downplaying his action in contrast to the disruptive noise around him.
Why is the phrase tvöfalda drykkjarins síns in the genitive case?
The verb njóta (to enjoy) is one of the tricky verbs in Icelandic that requires its object to be in the genitive case instead of the usual accusative. Therefore, the entire phrase for "his double drink" must take the genitive form.
If the noun is in the genitive, why is the adjective tvöfalda instead of the strong genitive form tvöfalds?
Because the noun drykkjarins has the definite article attached to it ("the drink"). This forces the preceding adjective to use the weak declension. For a masculine singular noun in the genitive case, the weak adjective ending is -a, making it tvöfalda.
Why is síns used here rather than hans for "his"?
síns is the reflexive possessive pronoun, meaning it points directly back to the subject of the sentence, gesturinn. If you used hans, it would grammatically mean the guest was enjoying some other man's drink!
lætin translates to "the noise", but doesn't that ending mean it is plural?
Yes! The base word læti (noise, commotion) is a neuter noun that is almost always used in the plural form in Icelandic, even though we translate it as a singular concept in English. Here it is in the accusative case because it follows the preposition þrátt fyrir.
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