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Questions & Answers about Ég fann lykilinn í morgun.
Why does fann appear here? What’s its infinitive form and tense?
fann is the 1st person singular past tense (preterite) of the verb finna (“to find”). So Ég fann means “I found.”
Why is lykill ending with -inn here?
Icelandic marks the definite article as a suffix. lykill (“key”) + -inn (masculine singular definite article) = lykillinn, meaning “the key.”
What case is lykillinn in and why?
It’s in the accusative singular masculine, because it’s the direct object of fann. In Icelandic, direct objects take the accusative case.
Why do we say í morgun and not something like á morgninn?
í morgun is the standard fixed expression for “this morning.” Here morgun stays in its base (nominative) form, and í morgun functions as an adverbial time phrase.
Can you omit the subject pronoun Ég in this sentence?
Yes. Icelandic verbs are inflected for person and number, so the pronoun ég is often optional and used mainly for emphasis or clarity.
How would you say “I found a key this morning” (indefinite “a key”)?
Drop the definite suffix: Ég fann lykil í morgun. Here lykil is the indefinite accusative singular of lykill.
Is the word order in Icelandic always Subject-Verb-Object?
The neutral order is S-V-O, as in Ég fann lykilinn í morgun. However, Icelandic follows the “verb-second” (V2) rule: one other element can lead, then the verb must be second.
What if you start with the time phrase Í morgun?
By the V2 rule, the verb comes next, then the subject: Í morgun fann ég lykilinn.