Ég lét laga saumavélina í gær, því hún stoppaði alltaf.

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Breakdown of Ég lét laga saumavélina í gær, því hún stoppaði alltaf.

• alltaf: always
• í gær: yesterday
• hún: it

Questions & Answers about Ég lét laga saumavélina í gær, því hún stoppaði alltaf.

Why does lét laga mean had ... repaired rather than let repair?

This is a very common Icelandic pattern: láta + infinitive can mean to have something done.

So:

• Ég lét laga saumavélina = I had the sewing machine repaired
• literally, it looks like I let repair the sewing machine, but in normal usage it is a causative construction

A few similar examples:

• Ég lét þrífa bílinn. = I had the car cleaned.
• Hún lét klippa hárið. = She had her hair cut.

So in this sentence, lét does not mean that the speaker gave permission. It means they arranged for someone to repair the machine.

What form is lét?

Lét is the past tense of láta.

Basic forms:

• að láta = to let, allow, have something done
• ég læt = I let / I have done
• ég lét = I let / I had done

In this sentence, it is past tense because the whole event happened yesterday:

• Ég lét laga saumavélina í gær = I had the sewing machine repaired yesterday.

Why is it saumavélina and not saumavélin?