Breakdown of Hundurinn er svartur en kötturinn er hvítur.
vera
to be
hundurinn
the dog
en
but
kötturinn
the cat
svartur
black
hvítur
white
Questions & Answers about Hundurinn er svartur en kötturinn er hvítur.
How does the word en affect the word order of the second half of the sentence?
It doesn't change it at all! The word en (but) is a coordinating conjunction. This means it simply glues two independent, complete sentences together. The second part, kötturinn er hvítur, keeps the standard Subject-Verb-Adjective order exactly as if it were a standalone sentence.
Why do both colors, svartur and hvítur, end in -ur?
In Icelandic, adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they are describing. Both hundurinn (the dog) and kötturinn (the cat) are masculine nouns. The -ur suffix is the standard ending for masculine adjectives in their basic subject form.
Where is the word for "the" in this sentence?
Icelandic usually doesn't use a separate word for "the" like English does. Instead, it tacks an ending onto the noun itself. Hundur means "a dog", and adding the suffix -inn makes it hundurinn ("the dog"). The exact same thing happens with köttur becoming kötturinn.
Is there a special way to pronounce the double "t" in kötturinn?
Yes! In Icelandic, when you see a double tt (as well as kk or pp), you add a small breath or "h" sound right before you pronounce the consonant. This is called pre-aspiration. Because of this, kötturinn is pronounced roughly like "köh-tur-inn".
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