Breakdown of Tönnin sem tannlæknirinn lagaði er fín núna.
vera
to be
núna
now
laga
to fix
fínn
fine
sem
who / which / that
tannlæknirinn
the dentist
tönnin
the tooth
Questions & Answers about Tönnin sem tannlæknirinn lagaði er fín núna.
Is sem the subject or the object in this relative clause?
It is the object. The subject of the relative clause is tannlæknirinn (the dentist), who did the fixing. The great thing about the relative pronoun sem is that it never changes its form, regardless of whether it acts as the subject or the object in the clause.
Why are both tönnin and tannlæknirinn in their definite forms?
Just like in English where we say 'the tooth' and 'the dentist' to talk about specific ones, Icelandic does the same by adding the definite article to the end of the nouns. tönn becomes tönnin and tannlæknir becomes tannlæknirinn.
How can you tell that tönnin is a feminine noun in this sentence?
You can see it in two places here! First, the definite article ending -in on tönnin is the feminine nominative ending. Second, the adjective fín (fine) is in its feminine form to match the noun. If it were a neuter noun, it would be fínt.
tannlæknirinn seems like a very long word. Is it a compound?
Yes, it literally means 'the tooth doctor'! It combines tann- (from tönn, meaning tooth), læknir (doctor), and the masculine definite article -inn (the).
Learn Tönnin sem tannlæknirinn lagaði er fín núna and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free