Breakdown of Ég missi símann á gólfið.
ég
I
síminn
the telephone
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
gólfið
the floor
missa
to lose, to drop
Questions & Answers about Ég missi símann á gólfið.
Doesn't missa usually mean to miss or lose?
Yes! But in Icelandic, missa is also the most common way to say you accidentally dropped something. If you drop something on purpose, you would use a different phrase, like letting it fall (láta detta).
Why is the word for phone símann here?
The base word is sími, which is a masculine noun. Because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb, it changes to the accusative case, becoming síma. To say "the phone", we add the definite article ending -nn, giving us símann.
Why is gólfið in the accusative case instead of the dative case?
The preposition á (on) can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the accusative when there is movement or direction toward a destination, like dropping a phone onto the floor. If the phone were just resting statically on the floor, you would use the dative case (á gólfinu).
What tense is missi?
It is in the present tense, meaning "I drop" or "I am dropping". If you wanted to say "I dropped the phone" in the past tense, you would use missti.
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