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Questions & Answers about Konan þrífur stólana.
Why is stólana in the accusative case here?
The verb þrífa (to clean) forces the object being cleaned into the accusative case. Since the woman is cleaning the chairs, the word for them takes the accusative form.
How do we get the form stólana from the dictionary word for "chair"?
The base noun is stóll, a masculine word. First, we change it to the bare accusative plural form: stóla (chairs). Then, because we want to say "the" chairs, we add the masculine accusative plural definite ending -na, giving us stólana.
What if she was just cleaning "chairs" in general, rather than specific ones?
You would just use the bare accusative plural form without the definite ending -na. The sentence would simply be Konan þrífur stóla.
The English translation says "is cleaning". Why isn't there a separate word for "is"?
Icelandic usually doesn't use a separate word like "is" for ongoing actions. The single present-tense verb þrífur covers both "cleans" and "is cleaning".
Why does the sentence start with Konan instead of just Kona?
Kona means "a woman", while Konan means "the woman". In Icelandic, "the" is almost always a suffix that attaches directly to the end of the noun.