Breakdown of Strákurinn fyrirgefur henni ekki.
strákurinn
the boy
ekki
not
henni
her (dative)
fyrirgefa
to forgive
Questions & Answers about Strákurinn fyrirgefur henni ekki.
Why is "her" translated as henni instead of hana here?
The verb fyrirgefa (to forgive) requires the person being forgiven to be in the dative case. Henni is the dative form of hún (she). If you used the accusative form hana, it would be grammatically incorrect.
Why does ekki (not) come at the very end of the sentence?
In Icelandic, the verb is usually the second element in the sentence, and ekki typically comes right after it. However, when the object of the sentence is a short personal pronoun like henni, that pronoun usually squeezes in before the word ekki.
Is the verb fyrirgefur related to the English word "forgive"?
Yes! They are built the exact same way. The base form is fyrirgefa, where fyrir means "for" and gefa means "give". Here we see the form fyrirgefur because it is matching the third-person singular subject, "the boy".
How does strákurinn mean "the boy" instead of just "a boy"?
In Icelandic, "the" is not a separate word before the noun. Instead, it attaches to the end of the noun as a suffix. The base word is strákur (a boy), and adding the suffix -inn makes it strákurinn (the boy).
Learn Strákurinn fyrirgefur henni ekki and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free