Breakdown of Ég elska skyrtuna þína og jakkann þinn!
og
and
ég
I
elska
to love
þinn
your (m, f, n: þinn, þín, þitt)
jakkinn
the jacket
skyrtan
the shirt
Questions & Answers about Ég elska skyrtuna þína og jakkann þinn!
Why is "your" translated as þína for the shirt, but þinn for the jacket?
Possessives like "your" must match the gender of the noun they belong to. The verb elska puts both objects into the accusative case. Skyrta (shirt) is a feminine noun, so its accusative "your" is þína. Jakki (jacket) is a masculine noun, so its accusative "your" is þinn.
Why do the nouns have "the" attached to them? Skyrtuna means "the shirt" and jakkann means "the jacket".
In Icelandic, when you use a possessive pronoun like þinn after a noun, the noun must take the definite article (have "the" attached to its end). So instead of saying "shirt your," you literally say "the-shirt your" (skyrtuna þína). This is a strict rule in everyday Icelandic!
What exactly makes the objects in this sentence accusative?
The verb elska (to love). The person or thing being loved is the direct object of the sentence, and in Icelandic, direct objects are usually in the accusative case. Because the nouns (skyrtuna, jakkann) shift into the accusative case, the pronouns (þína, þinn) are forced to follow along and match them.
Why does the word for "your" come after the noun instead of before it?
In normal, everyday spoken Icelandic, possessive words like þinn (your) and minn (my) almost always come immediately after the noun. Putting them before the noun sounds very formal, dramatic, or poetic.
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