Breakdown of Það er nauðsynlegt að fulltrúinn hafi lausnina.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
that (conjunction)
hafa
to have
lausnin
the solution
nauðsynlegur
necessary
fulltrúinn
the representative
Questions & Answers about Það er nauðsynlegt að fulltrúinn hafi lausnina.
Why is hafi used here instead of the normal present tense hefur?
The phrase Það er nauðsynlegt að... (It is necessary that...) expresses a requirement or a desired state rather than a concrete fact. In Icelandic, this kind of expression triggers the subjunctive mood. hafi is the third-person singular present subjunctive form of hafa.
Since hafa is an irregular verb, how does its present subjunctive conjugate?
It uses the stem haf- (instead of the indicative hef-) and takes regular subjunctive endings: ég hafi, þú hafir, hann/hún/það hafi, við höfum, þið hafið, þeir/þær/þau hafi. Notice that við höfum undergoes the standard u-shift, making it identical to its regular indicative form!
Why does the adjective nauðsynlegt end in -t?
It ends in -t because it is in the neuter singular form. It has to grammatically agree with the dummy subject Það (It), which is always treated as a neuter pronoun in these types of impersonal constructions.
What case is lausnina, and why?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb hafa, which always takes the accusative. The noun lausn (solution) is feminine. With the definite article attached, the nominative is lausnin (the solution), but the accusative form becomes lausnina.
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