Question 1

We are learning about dropping nouns to say things like "this big one". How would I drop the word for stall here and just say "in this calm one"?

Accepted Answer

You would use the pronoun þessum followed by the weak form of the adjective in the same gender and case. Since bás (stall) is masculine and in the dative case here, you use the dative masculine weak adjective rólega. So, "in this calm one" becomes í þessum rólega.

Question 2

Why is rólegur in the strong form here if this lesson is about weak adjectives?

Accepted Answer

Adjectives that come after the verb vera (to be) to describe the subject almost always use the strong declension. Even though seljandinn (the seller) has the definite article, rólegur is separated from it by the verb er, so it stays strong. If it were placed directly before the noun as in "the calm seller", it would be weak: rólegi seljandinn.

Question 3

The base word for seller is seljandi. How does the word for "the" attach to it to make seljandinn?

Accepted Answer

Nouns ending in -andi are masculine. When adding the masculine definite article -inn to a word that already ends in a vowel, you drop the i from the article. So, seljandi plus the article simply becomes seljandinn.

Question 4

Why are þessum and sölubás in the dative case here?

Accepted Answer

The preposition í (in) takes the dative case when it describes a fixed location, like being positioned inside a stall. It only takes the accusative case when it describes physical movement from the outside to the inside of a place.

Seljandinn í þessum sölubás er mjög rólegur.

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