Breakdown of Evran er notuð í mörgum löndum.
vera
to be
nota
to use
margur
many
landið
the land, the country
evran
the euro
Questions & Answers about Evran er notuð í mörgum löndum.
Why is the past participle notuð instead of the basic form notað?
In Icelandic, when forming the passive voice with vera (to be), the past participle must agree in gender, number, and case with the subject. Because evran (the euro) is a feminine singular noun in the nominative case, the participle takes the feminine singular nominative form notuð.
Why does the preposition í trigger the dative case here (mörgum löndum)?
The preposition í can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the accusative when indicating movement or direction towards a place, but it takes the dative when indicating a stationary position or state. Since the euro is simply being used in these countries (a state, with no physical movement into them), í requires the dative.
Why does the vowel change from 'a' in land to 'ö' in löndum?
This is due to U-mutation. The dative plural ending for nouns is almost always -um. When a noun has an 'a' in its stem, the 'u' in the ending shifts that 'a' to an 'ö'. So, land + -um becomes löndum.
What is the base form of mörgum, and why does it also have an 'ö'?
The base form is the adjective margur (many). It must agree with the noun it modifies, löndum, which is neuter, dative, and plural. The dative plural form of margur is mörgum. Notice that it undergoes the exact same U-mutation (a changes to ö) as the noun because of the -um ending.
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