Breakdown of Ég trúi vinkonu minni af því að hún er góð.
vera
to be
ég
I
hún
she
góður
good
minn
my (m, f, n: minn, mín, mitt)
trúa
to believe
af því að
because
vinkonan
the female friend
Questions & Answers about Ég trúi vinkonu minni af því að hún er góð.
Why is the word for "my" minni here instead of mín?
The verb trúa (to believe) requires the object you believe to be in the dative case. Because vinkona (female friend) is a feminine noun, you must use the feminine dative form of the possessive pronoun minn, which is minni.
Why does vinkonu end in a -u?
The base word is vinkona, which is a feminine noun ending in -a. These nouns change their -a ending to -u whenever they are in the accusative, dative, or genitive cases. Since the verb trúa triggers the dative case, vinkona changes to vinkonu.
Why are there three words (af því að) to say "because"?
In Icelandic, af því að is the standard set phrase for "because." Even though it is made up of three separate words (literally "from it that"), you should treat the entire phrase as a single block of meaning.
Why does the sentence use góð instead of góður?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Here, the adjective describes hún (she), referring back to the female friend. Therefore, we use the feminine form góð instead of the masculine dictionary form góður.
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