Questions & Answers about Hann kemur frá veitingastaðnum.
Why does the word for "restaurant" end in -num here?
The preposition frá (from) always makes the noun following it take the dative case. Veitingastaður (restaurant) is a masculine noun. In the dative case, its definite ending (meaning "the") is -num, which gives us veitingastaðnum.
Wait, what happened to the -ur at the end of veitingastaður?
The -ur at the end of masculine nouns like veitingastaður is only used for the basic dictionary form (the nominative case). When the word changes to the dative case because of frá, that -ur drops off completely. The base word becomes veitingastað-, and then we add the dative "the" ending (-num).
Is veitingastaður a compound word? Does that affect its endings?
I learned the verb for "to come" is að koma. Why is there an "e" in kemur?
The verb að koma (to come) has a vowel shift in the present tense for singular subjects. The o changes to an e for "I", "you", and "he/she/it". This is a common pattern in Icelandic verbs, making "he comes" hann kemur rather than "hann komur".
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