Breakdown of Hundurinn sefur á koddunum.
hundurinn
the dog
sofa
to sleep
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
koddinn
the pillow
Questions & Answers about Hundurinn sefur á koddunum.
Why does the word for pillows end in -unum?
This is the definite dative plural form. The base word is koddi (pillow). Because it follows the preposition á for a stationary location, it needs the dative case. The ending for a bare dative plural is -um (making it koddum for just pillows), and to say the pillows, we add the definite suffix, making it koddunum.
How do we know to use the dative case after á here?
The preposition á can take either the accusative or dative case. It takes the dative case when describing a stationary location or state of rest, like a dog sleeping on a pillow. If there were movement towards a destination, like a dog jumping onto the pillows, it would take the accusative case.
The dictionary form for to sleep is sofa. Why is it spelled sefur in this sentence?
Icelandic verbs often undergo a vowel change when conjugated. For the verb sofa, the o changes to an e in the singular present tense. So while the infinitive is sofa, the form for he, she, or it sleeps becomes sefur.
Why is the dog written as one word, hundurinn?
Instead of using a separate word for the like in English, Icelandic normally attaches a definite article to the end of the noun. The base noun is hundur (dog), and adding the masculine singular suffix -inn gives us hundurinn (the dog).
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