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Töfin á flugvellinum pirrar mig.

Töfin á flugvellinum pirrar mig.
The delay at the airport annoys me.
FromLesson 13inHardcore Icelandic

Breakdown of Töfin á flugvellinum pirrar mig.

mig
me
á
at
flugvöllurinn
the airport
töfin
the delay
pirra
to annoy

Questions & Answers about Töfin á flugvellinum pirrar mig.

What does Töfin mean?
Töfin is the definite singular of the feminine noun töf (“delay”). The ending -in is the nominative singular definite article, so Töfin literally means “the delay.”
Why is flugvellinum in the dative case?
Because the preposition á, when used for location (“at/in/on”), governs the dative. Here á flugvellinum means “at the airport,” so flugvöllur takes the dative case.
Why does flugvellinum end with -inum?

The base noun is flugvöllur (“airport”), a masculine noun. In the dative singular you add -i, and to make it definite you add -n, yielding -inum. Hence:
flugvöllur → flugvell-i → flugvell-i-n → flugvellinum (“at the airport”).

Why is mig used instead of mér?
Because pirra (“to annoy”) is an accusative-taking verb. Mig is the accusative form of ég (“I”), so you say pirrar mig (“annoys me”). Verbs that take a dative object (like líka við) are a different class.
What part of speech is pirrar, and why does it look like that?
pirrar is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb pirra. It carries the ending -ar to agree with the singular subject Töfin.
What is the word order in this sentence?

Icelandic main clauses follow the V2 rule (verb-second). Here:

  1. Töfin á flugvellinum (subject phrase) – position 1
  2. pirrar (finite verb) – position 2
  3. mig (object) – after the verb

So the pattern is Subject–Verb–Object in this example.

How do you make this sentence negative?

Insert ekki (“not”) after the object (or at the end of the clause). For example:
Töfin á flugvellinum pirrar mig ekki.

How would you say “The delay at the airport annoyed me” in the past tense?

Use the past-tense form pirraði (3rd person singular):
Töfin á flugvellinum pirraði mig.

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