Moving Day
Welcome to moving day. Directing movers to get a grand piano into a penthouse requires precision. Today, we will look at how to tell people to move objects around.
In Icelandic, verbs of motion like fara (to go), koma (to come), hlaupa (to run), and labba (to walk) do not normally take an object. However, you can change their "valency" (their ability to take an object) by pairing them with the preposition með.
When you use a movement verb + með + an object in the accusative case, it changes the meaning to transporting, carrying, or leading that object. For example, fara með becomes "to take" and hlaupa með becomes "to run with".
Bringing vs. Taking
The direction of the transport depends entirely on the base verb of motion. Just as fara means "to go" (away from the speaker) and koma means "to come" (toward the speaker), their transport forms follow suit:
- fara með
- accusative = to take (away)
- koma með
- accusative = to bring (here)
Other motion verbs like labba or ganga (to walk) follow the same pattern, describing the specific manner of transport.
Maneuvering Tight Spaces
Moving large furniture involves navigating through doorframes (í gegnum karminn) and over thresholds (yfir þröskuldinn). The transport structure remains exactly the same even when you add directions or when the mover has to squeeze (smeygja sér) through tight gaps. You simply place með and the accusative object into the action.