Breakdown of Ríkið krefst þess að fulltrúinn hafi friðarsamninginn.
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
that (conjunction)
hafa
to have
krefjast
to demand
ríkið
the state
fulltrúinn
the representative
friðarsamningurinn
the peace treaty
Questions & Answers about Ríkið krefst þess að fulltrúinn hafi friðarsamninginn.
Why do we use hafi here instead of the normal present tense hefur?
The verb hafi is in the present subjunctive. Subjunctive forms are used after verbs expressing demands, wishes, or uncertainty. Because the main clause uses krefst þess að (demands that), the verb in the following clause must be in the subjunctive. For the irregular verb hafa, the 3rd person singular present subjunctive is hafi.
Why is the word þess included before að?
The verb krefjast (to demand) strongly requires its object to be in the genitive case. Because an að (that) clause cannot take a grammatical case itself, Icelandic inserts the pronoun það in its genitive form (þess) as a placeholder. It literally means the state demands 'of it', namely, that the representative has the treaty.
Is krefst a passive verb because of the -st ending?
No, krefst is a middle voice verb that has an active meaning. While the -st ending often creates passive or reflexive verbs, many Icelandic verbs like krefjast (to demand) or vonast (to hope) just end in -st natively and act like regular active verbs.
Why does friður (peace) become friðar in the word friðarsamninginn?
When making compound words in Icelandic, the first noun often takes its genitive (possessive) form to link the words together. The genitive of friður is friðar, so joining it with samningur (agreement) makes friðarsamningur (peace treaty). Here it also has the accusative definite article -inn attached because it is the object of hafi.
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