Breakdown of Ég var að lesa um stjörnuspekina áður en ég sá stjörnumerkið þitt.
vera
to be
ég
I
að
to (infinitive marker)
lesa
to read
sjá
to see
þinn
your (m, f, n: þinn, þín, þitt)
um
about
áður en
before
stjörnuspekin
the astrology
stjörnumerkið
the zodiac sign
Questions & Answers about Ég var að lesa um stjörnuspekina áður en ég sá stjörnumerkið þitt.
The current lesson is about the present subjunctive of strong verbs. Why doesn't the strong verb sjá (to see) use the subjunctive here?
The conjunction áður en (before) only triggers the subjunctive when it refers to a future or hypothetical event. Because this sentence is about a factual event that already happened in the past, it uses the regular past indicative form sá (saw). If the sentence were referring to the future ("...before I see your sign"), you would use the present subjunctive of the strong verb sjá, which is sjái.
How are the compound words stjörnuspeki and stjörnumerki constructed?
Both words start with stjörnu-, which is the genitive singular form of stjarna (star). Speki means "wisdom" or "knowledge," so stjörnuspeki is literally "star-wisdom" (astrology). Merki means "sign," making stjörnumerki a "star-sign" (zodiac sign).
Why do we say stjörnumerkið þitt with the definite article attached to the noun?
In Icelandic, when a possessive pronoun like þitt (your) is placed after the noun, the noun must take the definite article. So the neuter noun stjörnumerki gets the definite suffix -ð, becoming stjörnumerkið þitt. You could also say þitt stjörnumerki without the article, but putting the pronoun after the definite noun is much more natural and common in everyday speech.
Why is the word stjörnuspekina in the accusative case?
The preposition um (when it means "about") always requires the following noun to be in the accusative case. Stjörnuspeki is a feminine noun, and its accusative definite form is stjörnuspekina (the astrology).
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