The Passive Agent with "af"
In a passive sentence, the focus is on who or what receives an action (e.g., "The song is composed"). To specify exactly who performs the action, use the preposition af ("by").
The preposition af always requires the dative case.
| The song is composed by the drummer. | Lagið er samið af trommuleikaranum. |
Dative Definite Endings
When identifying a specific agent, you will often use definite nouns. Notice how their definite endings change in the dative case:
- Masculine: -num (hljóðmaðurinn → af hljóðmanninum)
- Neuter: -nu (hljóðverið → af hljóðverinu)
- Feminine: -nni (hljómsveitin → af hljómsveitinni)
| The arrangement is not composed by the sound engineer. | Útsetningin er ekki samin af hljóðmanninum. |
| First the instrument is bought by the studio. | Fyrst er hljóðfærið keypt af hljóðverinu. |
| Then the arrangement is played by the band. | Svo er útsetningin spiluð af hljómsveitinni. |
Different Tenses
You can change the timeframe of a passive sentence by changing the auxiliary verb vera (to be). Whether the action happens now (er), happened in the past (var), or will happen in the future (ætlar að vera), the agent is always expressed with af + dative.
| The studio was built by the sound engineer. | Hljóðverið var byggt af hljóðmanninum. |
| The singer is not going to be disturbed by the sound engineer. | Söngkonan ætlar ekki að vera trufluð af hljóðmanninum. |
| The concert tour is finally booked by the agent. | Tónleikaferðin er loksins bókuð af umboðsmanninum. |
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