Breakdown of Snjóboltinn rúllar niður hlíðina.
niður
down
snjóboltinn
the snowball
rúlla
to roll (e.g. a ball, a wheel)
hlíðin
the slope
Questions & Answers about Snjóboltinn rúllar niður hlíðina.
This lesson is about repeating comparatives. How would I add 'faster and faster' to this sentence?
You use the comparative form of the adverb hratt (fast), which is hraðar, and link it with og. So you would say Snjóboltinn rúllar hraðar og hraðar niður hlíðina.
And what if I want to say the snowball gets 'bigger and bigger' as it rolls?
You use the comparative of the adjective stór (big). Since snjóboltinn is a masculine noun, you use the masculine comparative form stærri. You would say hann verður stærri og stærri (it gets bigger and bigger).
Why is hlíðina in the accusative case here?
The phrase niður hlíðina describes the path of motion. In Icelandic, when you travel along or through a path, such as walking down a street or rolling down a slope, the noun for that path takes the accusative case.
The snowball is rolling itself here. If I were rolling the snowball, what case would the snowball take?
It would take the dative case. The verb að rúlla is intransitive here, but when used transitively to mean you are rolling an object, it governs the dative. You would say ég rúlla snjóboltanum (I roll the snowball).
Could I use niðri instead of niður in this sentence?