Word
Strákurinn gengur um garðinn.
Meaning
The boy walks around the park.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Strákurinn gengur um garðinn.
strákurinn
the boy
ganga
to walk
um
around
garðurinn
the park / the garden
Questions & Answers about Strákurinn gengur um garðinn.
Why is the word for the park garðinn here instead of garðurinn?
The preposition um forces the next word to be in the accusative case. The basic word for the park is garðurinn in the nominative case. When we change it to the accusative, the ending -ur drops, leaving us with garðinn.
Does um always mean around?
Not exactly! When talking about movement in a physical space, um usually means around or through (like wandering around a park or walking through a room). In this motion context, it always takes the accusative case.
Why does strákurinn keep its -ur ending?
strákurinn (the boy) is the subject of the sentence because he is the one doing the walking. Subjects are always in the nominative case, which is the basic dictionary form. Because no preposition is acting on him, he stays exactly as strákurinn.
What is the dictionary form of the verb gengur?
The base verb is ganga, which means to walk or to go. gengur is the form used when talking about what he, she, or it does. It is a strong verb, which is why the vowel changes from an a to an e here.