Eftir leikskóla vill hún fara beint í sandkassann.

to want

Breakdown of Eftir leikskóla vill hún fara beint í sandkassann.

• hún: she
• fara: to go
• í: to

Questions & Answers about Eftir leikskóla vill hún fara beint í sandkassann.

Why is vill placed before hún instead of after it?

This is because Icelandic follows the verb-second (V2) rule in main clauses.

In Eftir leikskóla vill hún fara beint í sandkassann, the phrase Eftir leikskóla is placed first. Once that happens, the finite verb must come next, so vill comes before hún.

Compare:

• Hún vill fara beint í sandkassann. = She wants to go straight into the sandbox.
• Eftir leikskóla vill hún fara beint í sandkassann. = After preschool, she wants to go straight into the sandbox.

So the word order changes because Eftir leikskóla has been moved to the front.

Why is fara in the infinitive?

Because vilja (to want) is followed by another verb in the infinitive.

So:

• vill = wants
• fara = to go

Together, vill fara means wants to go.

This is similar to English, except Icelandic does not use a separate word like to in this construction.

Why is there no að before fara?