Breakdown of Maðurinn finnur gamalt dekk í skottinu sínu.
gamall
old
maðurinn
the man
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
finna
to find
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
dekkið
the tire
skottið
the trunk
Questions & Answers about Maðurinn finnur gamalt dekk í skottinu sínu.
Why do we use sínu (his own) here instead of hans (his)?
In Icelandic, when a third-person subject (like maðurinn) owns the object in the same clause, you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun sinn (meaning 'his/her/their own'). If we used hans, it would mean he found the tire in another man's trunk.
Why is sínu in the dative case here?
Possessive pronouns must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Here, sínu agrees with skottinu (the trunk), which is a neuter, singular noun in the dative case.
Why is skottinu in the dative case rather than the accusative?
The preposition í (in) takes the dative case when it describes a fixed location (where something is). Since the tire is located in the trunk, we use the dative. If the man were putting the tire into the trunk (showing movement), í would take the accusative case.
Why is the adjective gamalt instead of gamall?
The adjective must agree with the noun it modifies. Dekk (tire) is a neuter word, and because it is the direct object being found, it is in the accusative case. Therefore, the base adjective gamall changes to its neuter, singular, accusative form: gamalt.
Learn Maðurinn finnur gamalt dekk í skottinu sínu and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free