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Við erum að fóðra tuttugu hópa lamba.

Við erum að fóðra tuttugu hópa lamba.
We are feeding twenty groups of lambs.
From Lesson 86:Indefinite genitive plural (-a)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Við erum að fóðra tuttugu hópa lamba.

Why is the word for lambs written as lamba here?
This is the genitive plural form, which translates to "of lambs". The base word is the neuter noun lamb. To make the genitive plural for most bare nouns (nouns without the attached "the"), you simply add an -a to the end.
Both hópa and lamba end in -a. Are they in the same case?
No, they just happen to share an ending! Hópa is the accusative plural of the masculine noun hópur (group), because it is the direct object being fed. Lamba is the genitive plural of lamb. For many masculine nouns, the accusative plural and genitive plural are identical and both end in -a.
Why use erum að fóðra instead of just the verb fóðrum?
Erum að fóðra is the present continuous form, made with the verb vera + að + infinitive. It translates exactly to the English "are feeding" and is used because the action is happening right now. Við fóðrum would mean "We feed" as a general routine.
Does the number tuttugu change its form to match the accusative noun hópa?
No, tuttugu (twenty) is an indeclinable number, meaning its spelling never changes regardless of the gender or case of the noun it describes. In Icelandic, only the numbers 1 through 4 (and multiples of a hundred) change their endings to match nouns.

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