Ég get ekki andað.

I cannot breathe.

Breakdown of Ég get ekki andað.

• ég: I
• ekki: not
• geta: can
• anda: to breathe

Questions & Answers about Ég get ekki andað.

What does each word in Ég get ekki andað mean or do?

• Ég = I
• get = can / am able to
• ekki = not
• andað = breathe in the form used here after get

So the sentence is literally I can not breathe, which matches English I can’t breathe very closely.

Why does get mean can here? It looks like English get.

Because get is from the Icelandic verb geta, which usually means can or be able to.

So:

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

Even though it looks like English get, it is a different word with a different meaning.

Why is ekki after the verb?