Breakdown of Jón setur tannburstann sinn og tannkremið sitt á borðið.
og
and
borðið
the table
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
setja
to put
Jón
Jon
tannburstinn
the toothbrush
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
tannkremið
the toothpaste
Questions & Answers about Jón setur tannburstann sinn og tannkremið sitt á borðið.
Why do we use sinn and sitt here instead of hans (his)?
Sinn is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means "his own" (or her/their own). Because Jón is the subject doing the action to his own things, we use sinn. If we used hans, it would mean he is putting some other guy's toothbrush on the table!
Why does the sentence use both sinn and sitt?
The pronoun sinn must match the gender, number, and case of the noun it describes. Both objects are in the accusative case, but tannbursti (toothbrush) is a masculine word, so it takes the masculine form sinn. Tannkrem (toothpaste) is a neuter word, so it takes the neuter form sitt.
Why do tannburstann and tannkremið have the definite article ("the") attached to them?
In Icelandic, when you use a possessive pronoun like sinn, the noun it belongs to almost always takes the attached definite article. Unlike English, you are literally saying "the toothbrush his own" (tannburstann sinn) and "the toothpaste his own" (tannkremið sitt).
Why is borðið (the table) in the accusative case here instead of the dative case?
The preposition á (on) takes the accusative case when there is movement or direction toward a destination, like actively putting something onto a table. If the items were already sitting still on the table, we would use the dative case (á borðinu).
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