Breakdown of Hundurinn sem situr fyrir hurðinni er týndur.
vera
to be
hundurinn
the dog
sitja
to sit
hurðin
the door
fyrir
in front of
sem
who / which / that
týndur
lost
Questions & Answers about Hundurinn sem situr fyrir hurðinni er týndur.
Why is hurðinni in the dative case here?
The preposition fyrir means "in front of" when describing a position. Because the dog is already sitting there (a fixed location) and not moving towards the door, we use the dative case for the noun following fyrir.
What is the base word for hurðinni?
The base word is hurð (door), which is a feminine noun. Here, hurðinni is the definite form meaning "the door" in the dative case. If it were the subject of a sentence, it would be hurðin.
Why does týndur end in "-ur"?
The word týndur (lost) describes the main subject of the sentence, hundurinn (the dog). Because hundur is a masculine noun in the nominative case, the adjective must match it and takes the masculine nominative ending -ur.
Can I use að instead of sem for "that" in this sentence?
No, because sem is a relative pronoun used to describe a noun, meaning "who", "which", or "that" in English (the dog THAT sits). The word að means "that" only when connecting two statements, like "I know THAT the dog is lost".
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