Starfsmanninum bar að hringja í neyðarlínuna.

Starfsmanninum is the dative singular definite form of starfsmaður (employee).

Breakdown:

• starfsmaður = an employee
• starfsmann = employee (accusative singular)
• starfsmanni = employee (dative singular, indefinite)
• starfsmanninum = the employee (dative singular, definite)

It is in the dative because the expression bera að + infinitive takes the person concerned in the dative case. So the sentence is built around the idea:

• starfsmanninum bar að ... = the employee had to ... / it was the employee’s duty to ...

So even though this person feels like the logical subject in English, Icelandic marks them in the dative here.

Yes. Bar is the past tense of bera.

However, in this sentence it is not being used in its basic concrete sense to carry / bear. Instead, it is part of the idiomatic expression:

• bera að + infinitive

This means:

• to be required to
• to be obliged to
• to be someone’s duty to

So:

• Starfsmanninum bar að hringja ... = The employee was supposed to call ... = The employee had a duty to call ... = The employee was obliged to call ...

This is a fairly formal or official-sounding expression.

Because this is an impersonal construction.

In English, we usually expect a subject like the employee in the nominative. But Icelandic has a number of expressions where:

• there is no normal nominative subject
• the person affected appears in another case, here dative

In starfsmanninum bar að hringja, the dative noun is the person under the obligation, but grammatically it is not a standard nominative subject.

This kind of thing is common in Icelandic and is one reason case is so important.

It is singular because the construction is impersonal. The verb is not agreeing with a nominative subject here, because there really is no nominative subject in the sentence.

So bar stays in the singular past tense form.

If the sentence had a regular nominative plural subject, you would expect ordinary agreement. But here the grammar works differently.

Að hringja is the infinitive phrase: to call.

In the construction bera að + infinitive, the infinitive tells you what someone was obliged to do.

So:

• bar að hringja = had to call
• literally, something like was incumbent to call

The word að here is the infinitive marker, similar to English to in to call.

Because the verb hringja normally takes the preposition í when it means to call/phone someone or something.

So Icelandic says:

• hringja í einhvern = call someone
• hringja í neyðarlínuna = call the emergency line

This is just how the verb is used idiomatically. English uses a direct object here, but Icelandic uses a prepositional phrase.

Because the preposition í here governs the accusative.

So:

• neyðarlínan = the emergency line (nominative)
• neyðarlínuna = the emergency line (accusative)

In this expression:

• hringja í neyðarlínuna

the preposition í is required by the verb hringja í, and the noun appears in the accusative.

This is not really about physical motion here; it is just the fixed case pattern used with this verb.

They show both case and definiteness.

-num in starfsmanninum

This ending signals:

• dative singular
• definite (the employee)

-una in neyðarlínuna

This ending signals:

• accusative singular
• definite (the emergency line)

So both nouns are definite in this sentence:

• starfsmanninum = the employee
• neyðarlínuna = the emergency line

It sounds somewhat formal, official, or written.

The construction bera að + infinitive is perfectly correct, but in everyday speech people might more often use something like:

• Starfsmaðurinn þurfti að hringja í neyðarlínuna. = The employee had to call the emergency line.

The original sentence has a more formal nuance:

• it was the employee’s duty
• the employee was under an obligation

So it would fit well in reports, legal language, official summaries, or formal narration.

The order is:

• Starfsmanninum — dative experiencer / person under obligation
• bar — finite verb, past tense
• að hringja í neyðarlínuna — infinitive phrase

A very literal unpacking would be something like:

• To-the-employee was-incumbent to call the emergency line

That is not good English, of course, but it helps show the structure.

Also notice that the finite verb bar comes early in the clause, which fits normal Icelandic main-clause word order.

In the present tense, you would normally say:

• Starfsmanninum ber að hringja í neyðarlínuna.

Here:

• ber = present tense
• bar = past tense

So:

• ber að hringja = is supposed to call / has a duty to call
• bar að hringja = was supposed to call / had a duty to call

Sometimes that translation may fit the context, but it is not always the best first translation.

The Icelandic sentence mainly expresses:

• obligation
• duty
• what was expected

Good translations include:

• The employee had to call the emergency line.
• The employee was supposed to call the emergency line.
• The employee was obliged to call the emergency line.

Should have called in English can suggest that the person failed to do it, and that idea is not necessarily built into the Icelandic sentence by itself. The Icelandic sentence only states the obligation, not whether it was fulfilled.