Breakdown of Tannlæknirinn skoðar tönnina sem er vond.
vera
to be
skoða
to look at
vondur
bad (evil, mean, angry) / bad-tasting, nasty (of food)
sem
who / which / that
Questions & Answers about Tannlæknirinn skoðar tönnina sem er vond.
In the phrase sem er vond, why is vond in the nominative case when tönnina is accusative?
Even though tönnina (the tooth) is the object of the first part of the sentence, the relative pronoun sem starts a new mini-sentence (clause). Inside this new clause, sem acts as the subject ('that is...'). Because it is the subject, the adjective describing it (vond) must be in the nominative case. It stays feminine to match the gender of tönn.
Could I use það instead of sem for 'that' here?
No, you have to use sem. In English, we use 'that' for many different things. In Icelandic, when 'that' connects a noun to a description (like 'the tooth that is bad'), it is a relative pronoun, so you must use sem. You only use það to point out a specific thing, like 'That is a bad tooth' (Það er vond tönn).
Does vond literally mean the tooth is 'evil' or 'bad'?
While the adjective vondur usually translates to 'bad' or 'evil' (like a bad person or bad weather), when it is used with body parts in Icelandic, it means 'sore' or 'painful'. So a tooth sem er vond is simply a tooth that hurts!
Why does the word for 'tooth' look different in tannlæknirinn and tönnina?