Word
Nemandinn skilur ekki og finnur enga lausn.
Meaning
The student does not understand and finds no solution.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Nemandinn skilur ekki og finnur enga lausn.
og
and
nemandinn
the student
ekki
not
skilja
to understand
Questions & Answers about Nemandinn skilur ekki og finnur enga lausn.
Why do we use enga here instead of the dictionary form enginn?
Enga is the accusative feminine singular form of enginn. It has to change its form to match the noun it describes, which is lausn (solution). Because lausn is a feminine word and acts as the direct object of the verb finnur (finds), we must use the feminine accusative form.
Wait, doesn't enginn usually mean 'no one'?
It does! When used all by itself as a pronoun, enginn means 'no one' or 'nobody'. However, when you put it right next to a noun like in enga lausn, it acts like an adjective that translates to 'no' or 'not any' (literally 'no solution').
How is the word nemandinn put together?
It comes from the masculine noun nemandi (student). To say 'the student' in the nominative case, you add the definite article suffix. Because nemandi already ends in a vowel, you simply attach -nn to the end, giving you nemandinn.
Why is there no pronoun like hann or hún before finnur?
Just like in English, you don't need to repeat the subject if it is exactly the same for both actions. Nemandinn is the subject doing both things, so we can just connect the two verb phrases with og (and) without adding a new pronoun.