Breakdown of Lánar hún músina sína?
hún
she
sinn
his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt)
lána
to lend
músin
the mouse
Questions & Answers about Lánar hún músina sína?
Why does this sentence use sína instead of hennar for 'her'?
Because she is lending her own mouse. In Icelandic, when the subject of the sentence (hún) owns the object being acted upon, you must use the reflexive pronoun sinn (here in the form sína). If she were lending another woman's mouse, you would use the invariable pronoun hennar.
Why is it músina sína instead of just mús sína?
When using a possessive word like sinn, the noun it attaches to usually needs the definite article (the 'the' ending) attached to it. So the noun mús first becomes músina (the mouse), making the phrase literally 'the mouse her own'.
Why is the possessive word exactly sína here?
The reflexive possessive pronoun sinn must match the noun it describes in gender, number, and case. Mús is a feminine noun. It is in the accusative case here because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb (it is the thing being lent). The feminine, singular, accusative form of sinn is sína.
Where is the word for 'does' in this question?
Icelandic does not use helper verbs like 'do' or 'does' to make questions. Instead, it simply swaps the subject and the verb. By putting the verb lánar (lends) before the subject hún (she), it automatically becomes the question 'Does she lend?'.
Learn Lánar hún músina sína 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