Breakdown of Kakan er á diskinum í eldhúsinu.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
kakan
the cake
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
eldhúsið
the kitchen
diskurinn
the plate
Questions & Answers about Kakan er á diskinum í eldhúsinu.
Why do the prepositions á and í trigger the dative case here?
In Icelandic, prepositions like á (on) and í (in) control the grammatical case of the noun that follows them. When they describe a fixed location or a state of rest, like a cake just sitting there, they require the dative case.
How is the word diskinum (the plate) built?
How is eldhúsinu (the kitchen) built?
Why does the ending for 'the' look different for the plate (-num) and the kitchen (-nu)?
The definite endings change based on the grammatical gender of the noun. Because diskur is masculine, its dative definite ending is -num. Because eldhús is neuter, its dative definite ending is just -nu.
Why isn't kakan (the cake) also in the dative case?
Kakan is the subject of the sentence because it is the thing performing the verb 'is'. The subject of a sentence always uses the default nominative case. The prepositions á and í only affect the nouns that come directly after them.
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