Breakdown of Er sá í miðjunni strákurinn sem þú talar oft við?
vera
to be
þú
you
strákurinn
the boy
tala
to speak
oft
often
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
sem
who / which / that
við
with (talking with)
sá
that (sá, sú, það; þann)
miðjan
the middle
Questions & Answers about Er sá í miðjunni strákurinn sem þú talar oft við?
Why use sá here instead of það for "that"?
Sá means "that one" and is the masculine nominative form. It is used here because it refers to a male person (strákurinn, the boy). You would use það if you were making a general statement about an unknown object or situation, but here you are pointing out a specific, masculine "one".
Is sá acting as an adjective attached to strákurinn in this sentence?
No, here it acts as a standalone pronoun meaning "that one". The sentence equates two separate parts: [sá í miðjunni - that one in the middle] is [strákurinn - the boy]. If you wanted to group them to say "that boy in the middle", you would say sá strákur í miðjunni.
Why is the preposition við at the very end of the sentence?
Just like in English ("the boy you talk to"), the preposition gets left at the end of the relative clause. In Icelandic, the relative pronoun sem (who/that) can never have a preposition directly in front of it, so the preposition must be placed at the end.
I thought við usually meant "with" or "by". Why is it used for "talk to"?
The verb að tala (to talk) specifically pairs with the preposition við to mean "to talk to" someone. Even if the English translation uses "to", or if it is a mutual conversation ("talking with"), Icelandic consistently uses the phrase tala við.
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