Questions & Answers about Stelpan talar mjög vel.
Why is the word for 'the girl' written as Stelpan instead of two separate words?
Icelandic attaches the word for 'the' (the definite article) to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word. The base word is stelpa (a girl). Since it ends in a vowel, we just add -n to get stelpan (the girl).
The dictionary form of the verb is tala (to speak). Why does it end in -ar here?
tala is a Group 1 weak verb, which means its singular present tense forms often end in -ar. Because the subject is a third-person singular noun (stelpan, which acts like 'she'), it requires this ending. Since tala already ends in an -a, we just add -r to make talar (speaks).
Would the verb still be talar if the sentence started with ég (I)?
No. For Group 1 weak verbs, the 'I' form (first-person singular) doesn't take the -r ending. It simply uses the base word, so you would say ég tala (I speak).