Hún vaknaði úr dáinu.

she

Breakdown of Hún vaknaði úr dáinu.

• vakna: to wake up
• úr: from
• dáið: the coma

Questions & Answers about Hún vaknaði úr dáinu.

Why is there no separate word for up in this sentence?

In Icelandic, vakna already means wake up / awaken. So Hún vaknaði naturally means she woke up.

English often uses a particle like up, but Icelandic does not need one here. You can sometimes see vakna upp, but plain vakna is the normal basic verb.

What form is vaknaði?

Vaknaði is the 3rd person singular past tense of vakna.

So:

• vakna = to wake up
• vaknaði = woke up

It matches hún (she), which is third person singular.

What is the difference between vakna and vekja?

This is a very common and useful distinction:

• vakna = to wake up, to become awake
  
  • intransitive: the subject wakes
• vekja = to wake someone, to awaken someone
  
  • transitive: someone causes another person to wake

So in this sentence, hún is the one who wakes up herself, so vakna is the correct verb.

Compare:

• Hún vaknaði. = She woke up.
• Ég vakti hana. = I woke her up.

Why is úr used here?