Breakdown of Ég kaupi langan trefil og sæta peysu.
og
and
ég
I
kaupa
to buy
peysan
the sweater
trefillinn
the scarf
langur
long
sætur
sweet
Questions & Answers about Ég kaupi langan trefil og sæta peysu.
Why do we say langan instead of the dictionary form langur?
In Icelandic, adjectives must match the gender and case of the noun they describe. The verb kaupi (buy) forces the items being bought into the accusative case. Because trefill (scarf) is a masculine noun, the adjective takes the strong masculine accusative ending -an, making it langan.
The dictionary says "scarf" is trefill. Why is it spelled trefil here?
This is also because of the accusative case! For masculine nouns that end in -ll in their basic dictionary form (like trefill), the rule is to drop the final -l when they become the direct object of a sentence.
How does the adjective ending work for sæta peysu?
The word for sweater (peysa) is feminine, and it is in the accusative case because it is being bought. To match this, the adjective takes the strong feminine accusative ending, which is -a. This turns the base word sætur (cute) into sæta.
Why does "sweater" change from peysa to peysu?
Many feminine nouns end in -a in their basic dictionary form. A very common pattern in Icelandic is that this -a changes to a -u when the word is the direct object (accusative case). Therefore, peysa becomes peysu.
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