Word
Hvar er hringurinn hennar?
Meaning
Where is her ring?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hvar er hringurinn hennar?
vera
to be
hvar
where
hringurinn
the ring
hennar
her / hers (genitive)
Questions & Answers about Hvar er hringurinn hennar?
Why is the word order hringurinn hennar instead of hennar hringur?
In Icelandic, possessive words like hennar usually come after the noun. When they do, the noun must have the definite article attached to it. So, you literally say ring-the her.
Does the word hennar change because hringurinn is a masculine word?
No, it does not. The word hennar means belonging to her. It belongs to a special group of invariable possessive pronouns, meaning its spelling is locked in and never changes, regardless of the gender or number of the thing being owned.
How does the word hringurinn break down?
The base noun is hringur, which is a masculine word meaning ring. The -inn at the end is the attached masculine definite article (meaning the). Together they make hringurinn (the ring).
If I wanted to say Where is his ring? would I just swap out hennar?
Exactly! You would just replace hennar with hans, making it Hvar er hringurinn hans?. Because hans is also invariable, it fits perfectly into the exact same sentence structure without needing any adjustments.