Questions & Answers about Ég næ ekki af mér kvefinu.
What does næ come from, and why is it in this form?
næ is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb ná (to reach; to manage; to get).
- Infinitive: að ná
- Present (ég): ég næ
In this sentence, ná is used in a common idiomatic way meaning something like to manage to get rid of / shake off (when combined with af sér).
Why is there ekki in the middle: Ég næ ekki ...?
ekki is the standard negation word (not). In Icelandic it typically comes after the finite verb (the conjugated verb), so you get:
- Ég næ ekki ... = I do not manage ...
This is very regular word order in main clauses.
What does af mér literally mean here, and why is it needed?
Literally, af mér means off me / from me. In Icelandic, ná af sér is an idiomatic pattern meaning to get something off oneself, i.e. to shake something off / get rid of it.
So Ég næ ekki af mér ... is built like:
- ná
- af
- reflexive pronoun (in dative) + the thing
- af
Even if English doesn’t say , Icelandic commonly does.