Breakdown of Hún setur sápuna sína í snyrtitöskuna.
hún
she
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
setja
to put
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
Questions & Answers about Hún setur sápuna sína í snyrtitöskuna.
Why do we use sína here instead of hennar?
Because she is putting her own soap in the bag. In Icelandic, when a third-person subject (like Hún, she) interacts with their own object, we use the reflexive possessive sinn. If you used hennar, it would mean she is putting a different woman's soap into the bag.
Why is the reflexive pronoun specifically sína?
The word sinn changes its ending to match the noun it belongs to. Sápa (soap) is a feminine word. Because it is the direct object being acted upon (being put into the bag), it takes the accusative case. The feminine, singular, accusative form of sinn is sína.
Why does the word for soap have the "the" ending attached (sápuna) when the sentence translates to "her soap"?
In Icelandic, when a possessive word like sína is placed after the noun, the noun usually has to take the definite article (the "the" ending). So sápuna sína translates literally to "the soap her own", which is the most natural way to say "her soap".
Why is snyrtitöskuna (the toiletry bag) in the accusative case here?
The preposition í (in or into) can take either the accusative or dative case. Because the verb setur (puts) describes an action that moves something into a new location, í triggers the accusative case. If the soap were already resting inside the bag (no motion), you would use the dative case instead.