Enginn slasaðist í slysinu.

Questions & Answers about Enginn slasaðist í slysinu.

Why does the verb end in -st (slasaðist) instead of just being slasaði?
The -st ending makes this a middle voice verb. The active verb slasa means to injure someone else. Adding -st gives it a passive or spontaneous meaning, so slasast means to get injured. Therefore, the past tense slasaðist translates perfectly to got injured.
Is enginn always masculine, even if the gender of the people involved is unknown?
Yes, when it stands alone to mean nobody or no one in a general sense, enginn defaults to the masculine singular form. You only change its gender if it directly describes a specific noun, like engin kona for no woman.
Why is slysinu in the dative case here?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a static situation or location, which includes being in an accident. The base neuter noun is slys, its dative form is slysi, and adding the definite suffix makes it slysinu.
Could I use the verb vera (to be) to make a normal passive sentence instead?
You can say Enginn var slasaður to mean nobody was injured. However, Icelandic heavily prefers the -st verb form (slasaðist) when focusing on the spontaneous event of getting injured, reserving var slasaður more for describing the resulting state of being injured.

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