Breakdown of Maðurinn er fornleifafræðingur.
vera
to be
maðurinn
the man
fornleifafræðingurinn
the archaeologist
Questions & Answers about Maðurinn er fornleifafræðingur.
Why is the word for archaeologist (fornleifafræðingur) so long, and how can I remember it?
Icelandic builds new words by combining smaller ones. Forn means ancient, leifar means remains, fræði means study or science, and -ingur is a common ending for a person in a specific profession. So, it literally translates to an ancient-remains-study-person!
Why is there no word for 'an' before fornleifafræðingur?
In Icelandic, you usually drop the indefinite article (a or an) when stating someone's profession, nationality, or religion. You simply say the equivalent of 'The man is archaeologist.'
How would I use this lesson's grammar to say 'He became an archaeologist two years ago'?
You would say Hann varð fornleifafræðingur fyrir tveimur árum síðan. The phrase for 'ago' is fyrir ... síðan, and it forces the time words in the middle (tveimur árum) into the dative case.
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