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Breakdown of Ég vil prófa aðra tegund í sumar.
ég
I
vilja
to want
í
to
prófa
to try
annar
another
tegundin
the kind
sumarið
the summer
Questions & Answers about Ég vil prófa aðra tegund í sumar.
Why is there no að before prófa even though it’s an infinitive?
The verb vilja (“to want”) is a modal verb in Icelandic and is directly followed by the bare infinitive—no að is needed.
- Ég vil prófa — correct
- Ég vil að prófa — incorrect/unnecessary
Why is aðra tegund used instead of annar tegund or annað tegund?
Annar (“another/other”) is an adjective/pronoun that must agree with the noun’s gender, number and case. Here:
- tegund is feminine, singular, and the direct object (accusative).
- The accusative feminine singular form of annar is aðra.
So aðra tegund literally means “another type.”
Why is tegund in the accusative case here?
In Icelandic, the direct object of a verb takes the accusative case. Since tegund is what you want to try, it is the object of prófa, so it must be accusative.
Why does vil have one l, while vill has two l’s?
Vilja (“to want”) is irregular. Its present-tense forms are:
- ég vil
- þú vilt
- hann/hún vill
Only the 3rd person singular has ll; the 1st person singular stays with a single l.
Why do we say í sumar for “this summer,” and why doesn’t sumar change form?
- The preposition í with a time expression takes the accusative case.
- Sumar is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative singular forms are identical (sumar).
Therefore í sumar = “this summer.”
(If you wanted “during the summer” in a definite sense you could say um sumarið, or for habitual “in summers” you’d say á sumrin.)
What happens to word order if I put í sumar at the beginning of the sentence?
Icelandic follows the V2 (“verb-second”) rule. When a non-subject element is fronted, the finite verb must come next, then the subject:
- Í sumar vill ég prófa aðra tegund.
Can I omit ég in Ég vil prófa aðra tegund í sumar?
Yes. Subject pronouns are often dropped when the verb form makes the subject clear:
- Vil prófa aðra tegund í sumar.
That sounds informal or poetic, though. In everyday speech you’ll usually keep ég.
What’s the difference between prófa and reyna? Could I say Ég vil reyna aðra tegund í sumar?
- prófa = to test, sample or try something (a new type of coffee, a new activity, etc.)
- reyna = to attempt or try to do something and is normally followed by að
- infinitive (e.g. reyna að syngja = “try to sing”).
Since you’re trying out another kind or variety, prófa is the natural choice here. Saying reyna aðra tegund would be ungrammatical.
- infinitive (e.g. reyna að syngja = “try to sing”).
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