Breakdown of Bílstjórinn sefur á stýrinu sínu.
sofa
to sleep
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
bílstjórinn
the driver
stýrið
the steering wheel
Questions & Answers about Bílstjórinn sefur á stýrinu sínu.
Why use sínu instead of hans for "his"?
Sínu is a reflexive possessive pronoun, which means it refers back to the subject of the sentence. Because the driver is sleeping on his own steering wheel, we must use a form of sinn. If we used hans here, it would mean he was sleeping on a different person's steering wheel!
Why is sínu in the dative case here?
The preposition á (on) decides the case. When á describes a stationary position or location where something is happening (like resting or sleeping on something), it requires the dative case. Since the noun stýrinu takes the dative case here, the possessive pronoun describing it must match and become sínu.
Why does stýrinu have the definite article attached if we already say "his" with sínu?
In Icelandic, a noun followed by a possessive pronoun like sinn almost always takes the definite article (the attached "the"). So, instead of saying "on steering wheel his", Icelandic literally says "on the steering wheel his" (á stýrinu sínu).
What is the base form of the word stýrinu?
The dictionary form is stýri, which is a neuter noun. To say "the steering wheel" in the dative case, we add the neuter dative definite ending -nu, making it stýrinu. The matching neuter dative form of sinn is sínu.
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