Breakdown of Hún velur gulan kjól og stuttan trefil.
og
and
hún
she
velja
to choose
kjóllinn
the dress
trefillinn
the scarf
gulur
yellow
stuttur
short
Questions & Answers about Hún velur gulan kjól og stuttan trefil.
Why do both gulan and stuttan end in -an?
They are describing masculine nouns (kjól and trefil) that are the direct objects of the verb velur (chooses). Direct objects take the accusative case. In the accusative, masculine singular adjectives take the strong ending -an. Their dictionary forms are gulur and stuttur.
I learned the words for dress and scarf as kjóll and trefill. Why are they kjól and trefil here?
Because they are in the accusative case. Many masculine nouns that end in a double -ll in the nominative (subject) case drop the second -l in the accusative. So kjóll becomes kjól and trefill becomes trefil.
How do I know to use the strong adjective pattern here instead of the weak one?
You use the strong adjective pattern because the nouns don't have a definite article attached to them, and there are no demonstrative words like "this" or "that" in front. The sentence says "a yellow dress", so we need the strong form.
Why does the verb change from velja to velur?
Velja is the dictionary form (infinitive), meaning "to choose". Because the subject doing the action is hún (she), the verb is conjugated for the third-person singular, which makes it velur.
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