Breakdown of Vondi kapteinninn myndi ráðast á áhöfnina sína.
vondur
bad (evil, mean, angry) / bad-tasting, nasty (of food)
sinn
his/her/their own (reflexive possessive)
myndi
would (singular)
kapteinninn
the captain
ráðast á
to attack
áhöfnin
the crew
Questions & Answers about Vondi kapteinninn myndi ráðast á áhöfnina sína.
Why do we use myndi here, and what verb form follows it?
myndi is the conditional auxiliary verb, meaning 'would' for a third-person singular subject. Just like in English, it is followed immediately by the infinitive form of the main verb, which is ráðast here.
I know ráða means 'to advise' or 'to hire.' How does it mean 'attack' in this sentence?
This is a great example of how the -st ending (middle voice) can change a verb's meaning. ráða becomes ráðast, and when combined with the preposition á, the phrase ráðast á specifically means 'to attack'.
Why does the sentence use sína for 'his' instead of hans?
Because kapteinninn is the subject of the sentence, we must use the reflexive possessive pronoun sína to show he is attacking his own crew. If you used hans, it would mean he was attacking some other man's crew. It takes the form sína to match the feminine accusative noun áhöfnina.
Why is the adjective vondi instead of the dictionary form vondur?
Whenever an adjective comes before a definite noun (a noun with the definite article attached to it, like kapteinninn), the adjective must use the weak declension. For a masculine nominative noun, the weak ending is -i, making it vondi.
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