Breakdown of Hennar vondi dvergur vill brjóta sverðið.
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
brjóta
to break
hennar
her / hers (genitive)
vondur
bad (evil, mean, angry) / bad-tasting, nasty (of food)
sverðið
the sword
dvergurinn
the dwarf
Questions & Answers about Hennar vondi dvergur vill brjóta sverðið.
Why do we use vondi instead of the standard dictionary form vondur?
Here, vondi is in its weak form. In Icelandic, possessive words like hennar (her) force the adjective that follows them into the weak declension. Because dvergur (dwarf) is a masculine noun in the nominative case, the weak adjective takes the -i ending.
I am used to seeing the possessive word after the noun. Why is hennar at the start of the sentence?
You are right that possessives usually follow the noun in Icelandic! However, placing a possessive word before the noun adds emphasis, as in HER evil dwarf. When you do this, it triggers the weak adjective form (vondi) and the noun usually loses its attached 'the' ending, appearing in its basic form (dvergur).
Why isn't there an að (to) before brjóta (break)?
The verb vilja (to want), which becomes vill for he/she/it, works a bit like modal verbs do in English. When you use vilja with another action, it connects directly to the infinitive verb (brjóta) without needing the word að in between.
Is sverðið (the sword) in the nominative or accusative case here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object receiving the action of being broken. However, because sverð is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form. The -ið at the end is just the attached word for 'the'.
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