Question 1

Why does the preposition eftir come before bæði rather than attaching directly to the nouns?

Accepted Answer

When you use the correlative conjunction bæði... og (both... and), any preposition that applies to both items goes before the entire phrase. Just like in English where we say "waiting for both X and Y", the eftir governs the whole phrase so it doesn't need to be repeated.

Question 2

Why do both nouns end in -inni (ferðaáætluninni and bókuninni)?

Accepted Answer

The phrasal verb bíða eftir (to wait for) always forces the following noun into the dative case. Both ferðaáætlun (itinerary) and bókun (booking) are feminine nouns. When you attach the definite article ("the") to a feminine noun in the dative case, you use the ending -inni.

Question 3

What are the parts that make up the long word ferðaáætluninni?

Accepted Answer

It is a compound word. The first part is ferða, the genitive plural of ferð (trip/journey), meaning "of trips". The second part is áætlun (plan/schedule). Put them together and you get a "travel plan" or itinerary. The -inni at the very end is just the attached article meaning "the"!

Question 4

Could I just say við biðum eftir instead of við vorum að bíða eftir?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it changes the nuance. Við biðum is the simple past ("we waited"), whereas við vorum að bíða uses the continuous structure (vera að + infinitive) to mean "we were waiting". Just like in English, this continuous form emphasizes that the action was ongoing at that moment in the past.

Við vorum að bíða eftir bæði ferðaáætluninni og bókuninni.

Breakdown of Við vorum að bíða eftir bæði ferðaáætluninni og bókuninni.

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