Breakdown of Hann bjó í sama húsinu alla ævina.
húsið
the house
hann
he
búa
to live (in a place), to dwell
allur
all / everything / everyone
sami
the same (masculine, sister forms: sama, sömu)
ævin
the life, the lifetime
Questions & Answers about Hann bjó í sama húsinu alla ævina.
Why does sama not have a separate definite article in front of it, while húsinu has a suffixed one?
In Icelandic, the word sami (same) declines like a weak adjective, but unlike normal weak adjectives, it doesn't take a free-standing definite article (like hið or það) in front of it. Instead, the noun that follows it must take the suffixed definite article, giving us sama húsinu rather than "það sama hús".
Why is húsinu in the dative case here?
The preposition í governs the dative case when it describes a stationary location or state (where something is). Because living in the house is a static action with no physical movement toward a new destination, húsinu takes the dative.
Why is the phrase alla ævina in the accusative case?
Time expressions that express duration (answering the question "for how long?") are typically put into the accusative case in Icelandic. Here, alla ævina tells us the duration of time he lived there, so both the pronoun allur and the noun ævi are in the accusative.
Why doesn't the sentence include a word for "his" in alla ævina?
Icelandic frequently drops possessive pronouns (like hans) for things that intrinsically belong to a person, such as body parts, family members, or one's own life (ævi). The suffixed definite article in ævina (literally "the life") makes it clear that it is his own life being referred to.
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