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Icelandic

### The Dynamic Passive with "Verða"

When we talk about urban development and city planning, we often focus on *what* is being done rather than *who* is doing it. To describe an action that will be or is being done to a subject, Icelandic uses the dynamic passive voice.

While the active voice focuses on the doer of the action, the passive voice shifts the focus to the receiver. 

Compare an active intention with a passive outcome:

{{item:1046893}}

{{item:1046892}}

### Forming the Passive and Gender Agreement

To form the dynamic passive, you use the verb **verða** (to become / will be) followed by a past participle. 

Because the receiver of the action is now the grammatical subject of the sentence, the past participle must act like an adjective and agree with this new subject in gender and number.

Let's look at the verb **malbika** (to pave). If the subject is masculine like **göngustígurinn** (the footpath), the participle takes the masculine ending **-ur**. If the subject is feminine like **gatan** (the street), it takes the feminine ending **-uð**:

{{item:1046895}}

{{item:1046896}}

This agreement rule applies to all past participles in the passive voice. Notice how the feminine subjects below take feminine participle endings:

{{item:1046889}}

{{item:1046898}}

### Plural Subjects

If the subject is plural, both the verb **verða** and the past participle must take plural forms. 

For example, **samgöngurnar** (the transportation / transit links) is a feminine plural noun. Therefore, **verða** is in its plural form, and the participle takes the feminine plural ending:

{{item:1046906}}

### Adding the Agent

Often in the passive voice, the person or thing performing the action (the "agent") is left out because it is obvious or unimportant. 

However, if you want to include who is responsible for the action, you use the preposition **af** (by) followed by the dative case:

{{item:1046902}}

The dynamic passive (verða)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative and the definite suffix (þetta er, -inn, -in, -ið)

Singular pronouns and to be (ég er, þú ert)

Singular adjective agreement

Yes/no questions (ert þú…?)

Basic negation (ekki)

Plural pronouns and to be (við erum, þeir eru)

Group 1 weak verbs (-ar)

Group 2 and 3 verbs (-ir, -ur)

Information questions (hvað, hver, hvar)

Expressing opinions (mér finnst, mér líkar)

Expressing desires (mig langar)

Numbers 1 to 10 (einn, tveir, þrír)

Direct objects on indefinite nouns

Direct objects on definite nouns

Singular object pronouns (mig, þig...)

Plural object pronouns (okkur, ykkur...)

Directional prepositions (um, í, á)

Verb-second word order

Expressing intentions (ætla að)

Needs and wants (þurfa, vilja)

Middle voice verbs (-st)

Possessive pronouns (minn, þinn)

Dative case with prepositions (í, á, frá)

Definite dative nouns (-num, -nni, -nu)

Dative personal pronouns (honum, henni, þeim)

Plural nouns (-ar, -ir, -ur)

Definite plural nouns (-nir, -nar, -in)

Accusative plural nouns

Number agreement 1 to 4 (einn, tveir…)

Singular commands

Past tense of the verb to be (var, vorum)

Present continuous (vera að)

Strong verbs in the present tense

Weather and dummy subjects (það)

Invariable possessive pronouns (hans, hennar, þeirra)

Accusative possessives (minn, þinn)

Accompaniment (með)

Dative plural (-um, -unum)

Compound sentences (og, en, eða)

"This" in the nominative (þessi, þessi, þetta)

"This" in the accusative (þennan, þessa, þetta)

Accusative adjectives (-an, -a, -t)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the accusative (einn, tvo, þrjá)

Third-person reflexive pronouns (sig, sér)

The preposition "to" with the genitive (til)

Subordinating conjunctions (að, af því að)

Simple past of weak verbs (-aði)

Question words (hvernig, hvaða)

Physical possession (vera með)

Abstract possession (hafa)

Telling time (hálf, korter)

Plural commands (-ið)

The simple past tense (-di, -ti, -ði)

Possessive noun endings (-s, -ar)

Days of the week (á mánudaginn, á mánudögum)

Kveðjur — greetings (halló, bless)

Um mig — where I am from

Kurteisi — please, sorry, congratulations

Ability and knowing how (kunna að)

Permission (mega)

Obligation (eiga að)

Plural strong verbs

Numbers 11 to 20 (ellefu, tólf...)

Counting by tens to 100 (þrjátíu, fjörutíu...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (fyrsti, annar...)

All / everything / everyone (allur)

The indefinite pronoun someone (einhver)

The indefinite pronoun no one (enginn)

Compound numbers from 21 (tuttugu og)

This in the dative singular (þessum, þessari, þessu)

These in the dative plural (þessum)

My and your in the dative (mínum, þínum)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the dative (einum, tveimur)

Adjectives in the dative singular (-um, -ri, -u)

Adjectives in the dative plural (-um)

Reflexive possessive in the accusative (sinn, sína, sitt)

Reflexive possessive in the dative (sínum, sinni)

Reflexive versus regular possessives (sinn, hans)

Demonstrative plural (þessir, þessar, þessi)

Definite genitive singular (-sins, -arinnar)

Indefinite genitive plural (-a)

Definite genitive plural (-anna)

Genitive prepositions (án, milli, vegna)

Prepositions of direction (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Prepositions of static location (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Question	Answer
the mayor	bæjarstjórinn
the drawing	teikningin
The mayor has shown us the drawing.	Bæjarstjórinn hefur sýnt okkur teikninguna.
the new building	nýbyggingin
If the drawing is good, the new building will be approved.	Ef teikningin er góð verður nýbyggingin samþykkt.
the footpath	göngustígurinn
to expand	stækka
The footpath by the school will be expanded tomorrow.	Göngustígurinn hjá skólanum verður stækkaður á morgun.
The mayor intends to expand the playground.	Bæjarstjórinn ætlar að stækka leikvöllinn.
to pave	malbika
Will the whole footpath be paved?	Verður göngustígurinn allur malbikaður?
The street will be paved soon.	Gatan verður malbikuð bráðum.
to protect	friða
The old church will definitely be protected.	Gamla kirkjan verður örugglega friðuð.
The park will never be protected.	Garðurinn verður aldrei friðaður.
the construction	framkvæmdin
to finance	fjármagna
The construction will be financed by the bank.	Framkvæmdin verður fjármögnuð af bankanum.
Who is going to finance the construction?	Hver ætlar að fjármagna framkvæmdina?
the transportation	samgöngurnar
The new building does not damage the transportation here.	Nýbyggingin skemmir ekki samgöngurnar hér.
The transportation will be planned well.	Samgöngurnar verða skipulagðar vel.