Hana grunar að lykillinn sé enn í handtöskunni.

She suspects that the key is still in the handbag.

Breakdown of Hana grunar að lykillinn sé enn í handtöskunni.

• vera: to be
• í: in
• að: that
• lykillinn: the key

Questions & Answers about Hana grunar að lykillinn sé enn í handtöskunni.

Why is it hana grunar and not hún grunar?

Because gruna is used here in an impersonal construction. The person who has the suspicion is not put in the nominative case.

• hún = nominative she
• hana = accusative her

So Hana grunar ... literally uses hana, even though in English we translate it as she suspects ... or she suspects that ...

This is similar to other Icelandic verbs where English uses a normal subject, but Icelandic uses another case instead, such as:

• Mig langar = I want
• Mig vantar = I need / I am lacking

So here, hana is correct because gruna takes the experiencer in the accusative.

What exactly does grunar mean here?

Grunar is the present tense of að gruna.

In this kind of sentence, it means something like:

• to suspect
• to have a suspicion
• to think something may be the case

So Hana grunar að ... means she suspects that ...

A useful pattern to remember is:

• Mig grunar að ... = I suspect that ...
• Þig grunar að ... = you suspect that ...
• Hana grunar að ... = she suspects that ...

What is the role of að in this sentence?