Breakdown of Ormurinn fer undir teppið, en rottan sefur undir teppinu.
en
but
sofa
to sleep
fara
to go
undir
under
rottan
the rat
teppið
the carpet
ormurinn
the worm
Questions & Answers about Ormurinn fer undir teppið, en rottan sefur undir teppinu.
Why does the word for 'the carpet' change from teppið to teppinu in the same sentence?
This is the core rule from your current lesson! The preposition undir (under) takes the accusative case when showing movement towards a destination. That is why we use the accusative teppið for the worm going under it. However, undir takes the dative case for a static position, so we use the dative teppinu to describe where the rat is sleeping.
How can we tell the gender of the noun teppi (carpet) from these endings?
Teppi is a neuter noun. For neuter nouns, the definite article ('the') is usually added as -ð in the accusative case, giving us teppið. In the dative case, the neuter definite ending is -nu, which gives us teppinu.
Why is the verb for 'sleeps' sefur instead of something like 'sofur'?
The dictionary form of the verb is sofa (to sleep). However, it is a strong verb, meaning it changes its main vowel in the present tense. The o shifts to an e, making it sefur for 'he, she, or it sleeps'.
Are ormurinn (the worm) and rottan (the rat) in the same grammatical case here?
Yes, both are in the nominative case because they are the main subjects doing the actions. Ormur is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine definite article -inn. Rotta is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine definite article -n.
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