Questions & Answers about Hún borðar kökuna.
Why is "the cake" written as kökuna here instead of kakan?
Because the verb borða (to eat) forces the object being eaten into the accusative case. The basic word is kaka (cake). In the accusative, it becomes köku. To say "the" cake, we add the feminine accusative definite ending -na, making it kökuna.
Why does the first letter change from "a" in kaka to "ö" in kökuna?
This happens because of a very common Icelandic spelling rule called the U-shift. When a word's ending changes to a -u (like kaka becoming köku), any a in the root of the word usually changes to an ö. The definite ending -na is just tacked on after this shift happens.
If the word is feminine, why doesn't it use the -in ending for "the"?
The ending -in (which would make kakan) is only for the subject of a sentence (the nominative case). Since the cake is the object receiving the action, it is in the accusative case, and the feminine definite ending for that case is -na.
Does Icelandic have a separate word for the "is" in "is eating"?
No, Icelandic uses the simple present tense for both actions happening right now and general habits. The single word borðar covers both "eats" and "is eating".
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