The Dative of Manipulation
In Icelandic, verbs that describe moving, throwing, pushing, or otherwise physically manipulating an object usually require that object to take the dative case (rather than the accusative). This is often called the "dative of manipulation."
Throwing and Stacking
When you throw away junk (drasl) or stack items into a pile (hrúga), the items you are handling take the dative case. For example, the neuter noun draslið (the junk) becomes draslinu in the dative.
| The boy throws the junk out of the box. | Strákurinn fleygir draslinu úr kassanum. |
| We stack the books into one pile. | Við stöflum bókunum í eina hrúgu. |
Pushing and Rolling
Moving large items often involves pushing (ýta) or rolling (velta). The object being pushed or rolled—like a heavy object (hlunkur)—must also be in the dative case.
| The strong man pushes a heavy object out of the room. | Sterki maðurinn ýtir þungum hlunki úr herberginu. |
| The woman rolls the heavy object onto the floor. | Konan veltir hlunkinum á gólfið. |
Stuffing and Lifting
Whether you are stuffing (troða) things into a cupboard or lifting (lyfta) them out of a box, the manipulated object remains in the dative case.
Remember that any adjectives describing these objects, such as "useless" (gagnslaus) or "usable" (nýtilegur), must also decline to match the noun in the dative case.
| I need space because I stuff the junk into the cupboard. | Mig vantar pláss af því að ég treð draslinu í skápinn. |
| The woman lifts a usable thing up out of the box. | Konan lyftir nýtilegum hlut upp úr kassanum. |