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Questions & Answers about Konan faðmar manninn.
Why does this sentence use faðmar instead of the middle voice faðmast?
This lesson contrasts regular verbs with middle voice (-st) verbs. Faðma means 'to hug [someone else]'. Here, one person (the woman) is doing the action to a specific receiver (the man). If we used the middle voice faðmast, it would mean they are hugging each other.
Why is the word for 'the man' spelled manninn instead of maðurinn?
Manninn is in the accusative case because the man is the object receiving the hug. The verb faðma requires the accusative case for the receiver. Maður (man) has an irregular stem change: it becomes mann in the accusative, and then we add the definite article -inn to mean 'the man'.
Where is the word for 'the' in this sentence?
In Icelandic, 'the' is usually attached to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word. Kona (woman) becomes konan (the woman), and mann (man, in the accusative case) becomes manninn (the man).
How do we know who is doing the hugging?
We know Konan (the woman) is doing the hugging because it is the subject, shown by its nominative (default) case ending. Manninn is in the accusative case, which marks him as the object receiving the action. In Icelandic, these case endings tell us exactly who is doing what.