Breakdown of Við sjáum sætan strák og stóran hund.
hundurinn
the dog
og
and
stór
big
strákurinn
the boy
við
we
sjá
to see
sætur
sweet
Questions & Answers about Við sjáum sætan strák og stóran hund.
Why do the adjectives sætan and stóran both end in -an here?
The verb sjáum (see) makes the things you are seeing into the accusative case. Since strák (boy) and hund (dog) are masculine nouns, their adjectives must also be masculine and accusative. For strong adjectives, this means adding the ending -an.
Where did the -ur go from the dictionary words strákur and hundur?
Both strák and hund are the direct objects of the sentence. They have changed from the nominative (dictionary) case into the accusative case. Most masculine nouns ending in -ur drop that ending when they are in the accusative case.
How do I know where to add the -an ending if the dictionary forms are sætur and stór?
You remove the masculine nominative ending, if there is one, to find the root word. For sætur (cute), drop the -ur to get the root sæt-, then add -an to make sætan. The word stór (big) has no ending in the dictionary form, so its root is just stór, giving us stóran.
Why does the verb sjáum end in -um?
The verb changes to match the subject Við (we). In Icelandic, almost all present tense verbs take the ending -um when the subject is Við.
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