Breakdown of Honum var vísað til tæknimannsins.
vera
to be
hann
he
til
to
tæknimaðurinn
the technician
vísa
to direct
Questions & Answers about Honum var vísað til tæknimannsins.
Why does the sentence start with the dative Honum instead of the nominative Hann?
This is the core of the oblique passive. The active verb vísa (to direct or show) requires a dative object in Icelandic. When we change the sentence to the passive voice to say 'He was directed', that object moves to the front to become the subject, but it stubbornly keeps its dative case.
Honum is masculine, so why is the past participle vísað in the neuter singular form?
Because the subject is in the dative case, the past participle cannot agree with it. In Icelandic, past participles only agree with nominative subjects. When the subject is in any other case like the dative honum, the participle defaults to the neuter singular form, which is vísað.
Why is the word for 'the technician' in the genitive case (tæknimannsins)?
The preposition til (to) always forces the noun that follows it into the genitive case. The base word is tæknimaður (technician), and its genitive definite form is tæknimannsins.
How is the compound word tæknimannsins put together?
It combines tækni (technology or technique) and maður (person or man). So, a technician is literally a 'technology person'. The -sins at the end is the masculine singular genitive definite article meaning 'the'.
Learn Honum var vísað til tæknimannsins and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free