Fréttir og glæpir — news and crime

Reading the news

Icelandic news writing leans on two things this course has just taught: the passive (var skotinn, var barinn) and compact noun style. This lesson gives you the core news vocabulary that goes with them.

Crime verbs

verbmeaningcase
skjótato shoot+ accusative
berjato hit, to beat+ accusative
myrðato murder+ accusative
stingato stab, to poke+ accusative
rífato tear, to rip+ accusative

Note the difference between rífa (to tear something) and rífast (to argue), which you already know.

Public life

stjórnin is the government or a board, herinn the army, stefnan a policy or direction, and gegn (+ dative) means against: Our team plays against Denmark today.

Liðið okkar spilar gegn Danmörku í dag. sigra is to defeat an opponent — where vinna is to win a game, sigra takes the loser as its object.

Hearing the news

frétta is to hear news of something: I heard this yesterday.

Ég frétti þetta í gær. It is the verb behind fréttin, the news item you already know.

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