Breakdown of Hann á lítið af sparnaði núna.
hann
he
lítill
small / a little (small amount)
núna
now
eiga
to own / to have (a relationship)
af
of (in quantity expressions)
sparnaðurinn
the savings
Questions & Answers about Hann á lítið af sparnaði núna.
Why is á used here to mean has instead of hefur?
In Icelandic, the verb eiga (which becomes á here) is used when talking about owning money, assets, or physical objects. You use it here because savings are treated as an owned asset. The verb hafa is mostly used for abstract things, like having time or a cold, or as a grammatical helper verb.
Why do we use lítið af instead of a regular adjective matching the noun?
Because savings are treated as an uncountable mass, just like water or flour. For uncountable amounts, Icelandic uses the fixed neuter form lítið followed by the preposition af. You only use a matching adjective when describing the size of countable, individual objects.
Why does the word sparnaði end in an -i?
The phrase lítið af contains the preposition af, which always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. The dictionary form of this masculine noun is sparnaður, and its dative form is sparnaði.
The English translation uses the plural word savings. Is the Icelandic word plural too?
No, sparnaður is grammatically singular. It acts like an uncountable mass noun, very similar to how the word money works in English. Because it is an uncountable mass noun, it pairs perfectly with the lítið af structure taught in this lesson.
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