Breakdown of Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn þrífur blóðið af gólfinu.
gólfið
the floor
þrífa
to clean
af
off
hjúkrunarfræðingurinn
the nurse
blóðið
the blood
Questions & Answers about Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn þrífur blóðið af gólfinu.
Why is the word for nurse so long, and what does hjúkrunar mean?
Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn is a compound word. It combines hjúkrunar, which is the genitive (possessive) form of hjúkrun (nursing), and fræðingur (specialist). So it literally means the nursing specialist. The -inn at the end is the masculine definite article meaning 'the'.
I see -inn, -ið, and -inu on the nouns here. Are these all definite articles?
Yes! Icelandic attaches 'the' to the end of nouns. Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn has the masculine nominative ending -inn. Blóðið uses the neuter accusative ending -ið because it is the direct object being acted upon. Finally, gólfinu uses the neuter dative ending -inu.
Why does the floor become gólfinu instead of gólfið?
The preposition af (off or from) always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. The base neuter word gólf (floor) becomes gólfi in the dative, and when you add the definite article for 'the', it becomes gólfinu.
Since we are learning the genitive definite, how would I say 'the nurse's blood' using a word from this sentence?
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