Breakdown of Kjóllinn í versluninni er saumaður úr bómull.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
kjóllinn
the dress
sauma
to sew
úr
of (material)
verslunin
the store
bómullin
the cotton
Questions & Answers about Kjóllinn í versluninni er saumaður úr bómull.
Why does the word for "sewn" end in -ur here?
Saumaður is the past participle of sauma (to sew). In the static passive voice, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender, number, and case with the subject. Because kjóllinn (the dress) is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case, saumaður takes the masculine singular nominative ending -ur.
Why is the word for store written as versluninni instead of verslunin?
The preposition í takes the dative case when describing a stationary location. The word verslun (store) is a feminine noun. Its definite dative form is versluninni (in the store), while verslunin is just the standard nominative form.
Does the preposition úr also trigger a specific case for bómull?
Yes, the preposition úr (out of, made of) always takes the dative case. Bómull (cotton) is a feminine noun, and its dative form happens to be exactly the same as its dictionary form, so it looks like it hasn't changed here.
Could I move í versluninni to the end of the sentence?
You could say Kjóllinn er saumaður úr bómull í versluninni, but that changes the meaning. Right now, í versluninni describes which dress we are talking about. If you move it to the end, it describes where the action happened, meaning the dress was actually manufactured inside the store!
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