Breakdown of Krakkarnir leika á skipunum með litlum lömpum.
lítill
small / a little (small amount)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
leika
to play (as a child, act)
með
with
krakkinn
the kid
skipið
the ship
lampinn
the lamp
Questions & Answers about Krakkarnir leika á skipunum með litlum lömpum.
Why does the word for ships end in -unum instead of just -um?
The ending -um is the bare dative plural ending, making skipum mean ships. However, since we want to say on the ships, we add the definite ending. For all dative plural nouns, the definite suffix is -num, which attaches directly to skipum to create skipunum.
Why does the word for lamps (lampar) change its vowel to become lömpum?
The preposition með (with) requires the noun to be in the dative case. The dative plural ending is -um. In Icelandic, whenever an a in the main part of a word is followed by an ending containing a u, the a changes to an ö. This common vowel change is called the U-shift.
Why does the adjective litlum (small) also have the -um ending?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Because lömpum is in the dative plural form, the adjective describing it must also take the dative plural ending. For adjectives, this ending is conveniently also -um.
What cases do the prepositions á and með trigger in this sentence?
Here, both prepositions trigger the dative case. The word á takes the dative when describing a fixed physical location like on the ships, and með takes the dative when it describes the items someone has or is using, like with small lamps.
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