Word
Kötturinn fer á borðið.
Meaning
The cat goes onto the table.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kötturinn fer á borðið.
borðið
the table
kötturinn
the cat
fara
to go
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
Questions & Answers about Kötturinn fer á borðið.
Why does the preposition á mean onto here instead of just on?
In Icelandic, prepositions like á (on/onto) and í (in/into) act differently depending on the verb. Because the verb fer (goes) shows movement towards a destination, á implies motion, translating to onto. If the cat were just sitting still, á would simply mean on.
Because there is motion, what case is the word borðið (the table) in?
It is in the accusative case! When prepositions like á and í are used to describe motion or direction towards something, they force the following noun into the accusative case. If there were no motion, they would use the dative case instead.
If borðið is in the accusative case, why does it look exactly like the dictionary form?
That is a great feature of neuter nouns! The word borð (table) is a neuter noun. For all neuter nouns in Icelandic, the accusative form is completely identical to the nominative (subject) form. So borðið (the table) keeps its standard spelling here.
Where is the word for the in Kötturinn and borðið?
Icelandic does not use a separate word for the. Instead, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun. For the masculine noun köttur (cat), the ending -inn is added to make kötturinn. For the neuter noun borð, the ending -ið is added to make borðið.