Questions & Answers about Ég blanda smá salt og pipar í sósuna.
Why is it Ég blanda and not Ég blandar or Ég blandar?
Because the verb agrees with the subject in person and number. Ég is 1st person singular, so the present tense form is blanda.
Conjugation (present): ég blanda, þú blandar, hann/hún/það blandar, við blöndum, þið blandið, þeir/þær/þau blanda.
What exactly is the verb blanda doing grammatically in this sentence?
Blanda is the main verb meaning to mix/blend. In Icelandic, it commonly takes:
- a direct object (what you’re mixing): here smá salt og pipar
- and often a phrase with í + accusative to show what you’re mixing it into: here í sósuna.
Why is it smá salt and not something like smáu salti or lítið salt?
smá here acts like an indeclinable quantity word meaning a little/some. It often stays the same form before a noun.
You can also say lítið salt, where lítill is an adjective that does inflect (e.g. lítið with neuter salt). Both are common, with slightly different “feel”: smá salt is very everyday and casual.