Breakdown of Ég kaupi ekki þennan bol. Hann er ljótur.
vera
to be
ég
I
hann
he
ekki
not
kaupa
to buy
þessi
this (m/f)
bolurinn
the t-shirt
ljótur
ugly
Questions & Answers about Ég kaupi ekki þennan bol. Hann er ljótur.
Why is it þennan instead of þessi?
þennan is the masculine accusative form of þessi (this). We use it here because the t-shirt is the direct object of the verb kaupi (buy), so it must be in the accusative case.
Why does the word for t-shirt change from bolur to bol?
bolur is a masculine noun. Just like the word for 'this' changes to match the case, the noun itself drops its -ur ending to become bol when it is the direct object being bought.
Why does the second sentence start with Hann (he) instead of a word for 'it'?
In Icelandic, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Because bolur is a masculine noun, we use the masculine pronoun hann to say 'it'.
Why does ljótur keep its -ur ending when the noun lost it in the first sentence?
In the first sentence, the t-shirt is the object being bought (accusative case). In the second sentence, Hann (the t-shirt) is the subject (nominative case). Adjectives describing a masculine subject take the masculine nominative ending -ur.
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