Ég get ekki hreyft höndina.

I cannot move my hand.

Breakdown of Ég get ekki hreyft höndina.

• ég: I
• ekki: not
• geta: to be able
• höndin: the hand

Questions & Answers about Ég get ekki hreyft höndina.

What is the literal word-for-word breakdown of Ég get ekki hreyft höndina?

A natural breakdown is:

• Ég = I
• get = can / am able to
• ekki = not
• hreyft = move
• höndina = the hand / my hand

So the structure is basically I can not move the hand, which in natural English is I can’t move my hand.

What does get mean here? Is it related to the English verb get?

Here get is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb geta.

In this sentence, geta means can / be able to.

So:

• ég get = I can
• þú getur = you can
• hann/hún/það getur = he/she/it can

It may look like English get, but in this sentence it does not mean receive or obtain. It means be able to.

Why is geta used here, and not mega?