Breakdown of Það er kósí af því að ég ligg í náttfötunum og borða nammið.
vera
to be
og
and
ég
I
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
borða
to eat
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
af því að
because
liggja
to lie (be in a horizontal position)
náttfötin
the pajamas
kósí
cozy
nammið
the candy
Questions & Answers about Það er kósí af því að ég ligg í náttfötunum og borða nammið.
How does ligg ... og borða translate to "am lying ... and eating"? Don't we usually need er að for continuous actions?
Usually, yes! But Icelandic uses a special pattern for posture verbs like sitja (to sit), standa (to stand), and liggja (to lie). Instead of using vera að, you just conjugate the posture verb, add og (and), and conjugate the second verb. So ég ligg ... og borða naturally means "I am lying ... and eating" all on its own.
Why is it í náttfötunum (dative) rather than í náttfötin (accusative)?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a location or a state of rest, like already being inside your pajamas. It would only take the accusative if there was active movement into the location, like changing into your pajamas.
náttfötunum is a long word. How does it break down?
It is made of three parts: nátt (night) + föt (clothes) + -unum (the dative plural "the"). Just like the English word "clothes," föt is a plural word, so "the pajamas" also takes a plural ending.
Is kósí really just the English word "cozy"? Does it get grammar endings?
Yes, it is a direct loanword from English and is extremely common in spoken Icelandic! Because it is a borrowed word, it is indeclinable. That means it never changes its ending, no matter what gender, number, or case is required by the sentence.
Why does nammið have a -ð on the end?
nammi is a neuter noun meaning "candy" or "sweets," and the -ð is the attached definite article, making it "the candy." It is in the accusative case here because it is the direct object of the verb borða (to eat), but for neuter words, the accusative looks exactly like the dictionary form.
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