Breakdown of Leikstjórinn væntir mikillar velgengni.
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
leikstjórinn
the director
vænta
to expect
velgengnin
the success
Questions & Answers about Leikstjórinn væntir mikillar velgengni.
Why is "great success" in the genitive case (mikillar velgengni) instead of the accusative?
The verb vænta (to expect) is one of the special verbs in Icelandic that requires its direct object to be in the genitive case. Instead of the usual accusative, it takes a genitive object.
The word for success is velgengni. Why doesn't it have a typical genitive ending like "-ar"?
Velgengni is a feminine noun ending in -i. In Icelandic, most feminine abstract nouns ending in -i (like gleði for joy, or heppni for luck) do not change their endings in the singular. They look exactly the same in all four cases.
Since velgengni doesn't change, how can we tell it's in the genitive case here?
The adjective gives it away! Mikillar is the feminine genitive singular form of mikill (great). Because adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe, the ending -ar on mikillar confirms that the whole phrase is in the genitive case.
What are the parts that make up the word leikstjórinn?
It's a compound word made of the root of leikur (play or game) and stjóri (boss, manager, or controller). Together they mean "director". The -nn at the end is the attached definite article, making it "the director".
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