Breakdown of Bróðir þinn heyrði örugglega hljóðið.
heyra
to hear
bróðirinn
the brother
þinn
your (m, f, n: þinn, þín, þitt)
örugglega
definitely
hljóðið
the sound
Questions & Answers about Bróðir þinn heyrði örugglega hljóðið.
Why is it Bróðir þinn instead of Þinn bróðir?
In Icelandic, possessive pronouns like þinn (your) almost always come right after the noun. Notice that the noun stays indefinite in this setup (just bróðir, not bróðirinn).
If we wanted to say 'Someone definitely heard the sound', how would we use einhver here?
You would replace the subject Bróðir þinn with Einhver. Because 'someone' is the subject doing the hearing, it stays in the nominative case: Einhver heyrði örugglega hljóðið.
Why is hljóðið in the accusative case?
The verb heyra (to hear) forces the object being heard into the accusative case. Since hljóð is a neuter word, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form, even with the attached definite article -ið (the).
Örugglega means definitely here. Is -lega a common ending?
Yes, it is! Adding -lega to an adjective is the standard way to form an adverb in Icelandic, similar to adding '-ly' in English. It turns the adjective öruggur (safe/certain) into the adverb örugglega (certainly/definitely).
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