Breakdown of Ég sé stóran poka og einn hamborgara.
og
and
ég
I
stór
big
einn
one
sjá
to see
pokinn
the bag (sack, plastic, or paper)
hamborgarinn
the hamburger
Questions & Answers about Ég sé stóran poka og einn hamborgara.
Why do we use einn for "one" here?
The number "one" changes to match the gender and case of the noun it counts. The word hamborgari (hamburger) is a masculine noun, and it is in the accusative case because it is the object being seen. The masculine accusative form of the number one happens to be exactly the same as its dictionary form: einn.
What if I saw "one pizza" instead of "one hamburger"?
Since pítsa (pizza) is a feminine noun, you would need the feminine accusative form of "one". The sentence would change to use eina, making it: ...og eina pítsu.
Why is it stóran poka instead of stór poki?
The verb sjá (to see, here as sé) forces the things you see into the accusative case. Poki (bag) is a masculine noun, and its accusative form is poka. The adjective stór (big) must match this, so it adds the masculine accusative ending -an to become stóran.
Both poka and hamborgara end in "-a". Does that mean they are feminine nouns?
No, they are both masculine! Words like poki and hamborgari end in -i in their basic dictionary form (the nominative case). A very common rule for these masculine words is that their ending changes from -i to -a when they are used in the accusative case.
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