Breakdown of Býr Jón í djúpum dal?
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
Jón
Jon
búa
to live (in a place), to dwell
djúpur
deep
dalurinn
the valley
Questions & Answers about Býr Jón í djúpum dal?
Why does the adjective djúpum end in -um?
It modifies the masculine noun dal (valley), which is in the dative case here. Because there is no article like 'the' before it, we use the strong adjective pattern. For strong masculine adjectives in the dative singular, the ending is -um.
Why is the noun dal in the dative case here?
The preposition í (in) takes the dative case when it describes a stationary location, like where someone lives. If it described movement into a place, it would take the accusative case instead.
Where did the -ur go from the dictionary word dalur?
The base form (nominative case) is dalur. When masculine nouns ending in -ur change to the dative case, many of them drop that ending. So dalur simply becomes dal.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Býr?
Unlike English, Icelandic doesn't use helper words like 'does' to form questions. You simply swap the subject and the verb. So the statement Jón býr (Jón lives) becomes the question Býr Jón? (Does Jón live?).
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