Breakdown of Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn tekur blóð úr handlegg sjúklingsins.
taka
to take
úr
out of
sjúklingurinn
the patient
hjúkrunarfræðingurinn
the nurse
blóðið
the blood
handleggurinn
the arm
Questions & Answers about Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn tekur blóð úr handlegg sjúklingsins.
Why does sjúklingsins end in -sins?
This is the definite genitive form of the masculine noun sjúklingur (patient). The genitive case is used to show possession. For most masculine nouns, you add an -s to show ownership. Because we mean the patient's, we also add the definite article -ins at the very end, resulting in sjúklingsins.
Why is the word order handlegg sjúklingsins instead of the other way around?
In Icelandic, the possessor usually comes after the thing being owned. So instead of saying "the patient's arm" like in English, the structure is "arm the-patient's" (handlegg sjúklingsins). Notice that handlegg doesn't take a definite article here; the definite article on sjúklingsins is enough to make the whole phrase specific.
Why is "arm" written as handlegg rather than its dictionary form handleggur?
The preposition úr (out of, from) always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. The masculine noun handleggur drops its -ur ending in the dative, becoming handlegg.
Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn is a huge word! How is it built?
Icelandic often builds new words by sticking smaller ones together. This noun is made of hjúkrun (nursing) in its combining form hjúkrunar, plus fræðingur (specialist), plus the attached definite article -inn (the). Literally, it translates to "the nursing specialist".
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