Breakdown of Einhver heyrði líklega hljóðið líka.
heyra
to hear
líka
also
einhver
someone / some / any (before a noun)
hljóðið
the sound
líklega
probably
Questions & Answers about Einhver heyrði líklega hljóðið líka.
Why is einhver used in the nominative case here?
Einhver is the subject of the sentence (the person who did the hearing) so it must be in the nominative case. When referring to a general, unspecified 'someone', Icelandic defaults to the masculine singular form of the pronoun, which is einhver.
What is the dictionary form of heyrði, and what tense is it in?
It is the past tense of the verb heyra (to hear). Because the subject einhver is third-person singular, the verb takes the form heyrði (heard).
Why does the word for 'the sound' (hljóðið) look the same here in the accusative case as it does in the nominative?
The base noun is hljóð, which is a neuter noun. The -ið at the end is the attached definite article, making it 'the sound'. It is the direct object being heard so it is in the accusative case, but for all neuter nouns in Icelandic, the accusative form is exactly the same as the nominative form!
Líklega and líka look very similar in this sentence. Are they related?
Yes, they share the same root! Líklega is an adverb meaning 'probably' (related to the English word 'likely'), and líka means 'also' or 'too'. Notice their placement: líklega goes right after the verb, while líka sits at the very end of the sentence, just like 'too' often does in English.
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