Breakdown of Bara ef togarinn væri í höfninni.
vera
to be
bara
just / only
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
ef
if
Questions & Answers about Bara ef togarinn væri í höfninni.
Why do we use væri instead of the normal past tense var here?
Because bara ef (if only) sets up a hypothetical wish, something that isn't true right now. In Icelandic, this requires the past subjunctive form. For the verb vera (to be), the 3rd person singular past subjunctive is væri.
Could I use Ég vildi að instead of Bara ef for this sentence?
Yes, you could say Ég vildi að togarinn væri í höfninni (I wish that the trawler were in the harbor). Both phrases are used to express hypothetical wishes and both trigger the past subjunctive (væri). Bara ef is just a bit more like exclaiming "If only...!"
What case is höfninni in, and why?
It is in the dative case. The preposition í takes the dative when it describes a stationary location (being inside the harbor), rather than movement into it. The base feminine noun is höfn (harbor), and adding the dative definite article gives us höfninni.
How is the word togarinn formed?
It comes from the masculine noun togari (trawler). Because it is the subject of the sentence, it is in the nominative case. To say "the trawler", we add the definite article -nn to the end of the word, making it togarinn.