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Fyrirgefur þú tengdamóður þinni?

Fyrirgefur þú tengdamóður þinni?
Do you forgive your mother-in-law?
From Lesson 76:My and your in the dative (mínum, þínum)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Fyrirgefur þú tengdamóður þinni?

Why is 'your' translated as þinni in this sentence?
The possessive pronoun must match the noun it describes in gender, number, and case. The noun tengdamóðir (mother-in-law) is feminine and singular. Because it is in the dative case here, the pronoun þinn (your) changes to its dative feminine singular form, þinni.
Why are we using the dative case for the mother-in-law here?
The verb fyrirgefa (to forgive) governs the dative case, meaning the person you are forgiving must take the dative form.
The basic word is tengdamóðir. Why does it change to tengdamóður here?
Family words ending in -móðir (mother) or -faðir (father) have irregular pattern changes. For words ending in -móðir, the accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms all change the ending to -ur.
What does the tengda- part of tengdamóður mean?
The prefix tengda- is related to the verb tengja (to connect). It is the Icelandic equivalent of the English '-in-law' suffix. So, a tengdamóðir is literally a 'connected mother'.

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