Breakdown of Þessar dósir og flöskur fara í tunnuna.
og
and
fara
to go
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
flaskan
the bottle
þessi
this (m/f)
dósin
the can
tunnan
the bin
Questions & Answers about Þessar dósir og flöskur fara í tunnuna.
Why does the sentence start with Þessar instead of Þessir or Þessi?
Þessar is the feminine plural form of þessi (this/these). Because the nouns it points to, dósir (cans) and flöskur (bottles), are both feminine, the demonstrative pronoun must be feminine too. It is in the nominative case here because the cans and bottles are the main subject doing the action.
Does Þessar apply to both the cans and the bottles?
Yes! Just like in English, you do not need to repeat the word for "these". Since both dósir and flöskur are feminine plural nouns in the nominative case, the single Þessar at the beginning matches them both perfectly.
Why does the word for "the bin" change to tunnuna after í?
The preposition í (in/into) takes the accusative case when there is movement or direction involved. Because the cans and bottles are going into the bin, the feminine nominative word tunnan (the bin) changes to its accusative form, tunnuna. If they were already resting statically inside the bin, you would use the dative case instead.
Why do dósir and flöskur have different endings if they are both feminine plural words?
They belong to different groups of feminine nouns. Flaska (bottle) ends in an -a in the singular, and these types of words usually take an -ur ending in the plural. Dós (can) does not end in a vowel, and those feminine words often take an -ir ending instead.
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