Breakdown of Við vonum að ríkið geti leyst kreppuna.
við
we
að
that (conjunction)
geta
to be able to
leysa
to solve
vona
to hope
kreppan
the crisis
ríkið
the state
Questions & Answers about Við vonum að ríkið geti leyst kreppuna.
Why is geti used here instead of the regular present tense getur?
The verb vona (to hope) expresses a wish or uncertainty, which triggers the subjunctive mood in Icelandic. When you use the phrase vona að (hope that), the verb in the following clause must be in the subjunctive. Therefore, the normal indicative getur becomes the present subjunctive geti.
Why does geti take the form leyst instead of the infinitive leysa?
The verb geta (can / to be able to) is unique in Icelandic because it must be followed by the supine form of the main verb, not the infinitive. The supine is the same form you use after hafa (to have). That is why we say geti leyst rather than geti leysa.
How do you conjugate the present subjunctive of geta?
For the first and third person singular (I and he/she/it), the form is geti. The singular 'you' form is getir. The plural forms look exactly like the indicative: getum, getið, and geta (wait, the third person plural subjunctive is actually geti!). Since ríkið (the state) is an 'it', it takes the third-person singular form geti.
Why is the word for 'the crisis' spelled kreppuna here?
It is the direct object of the verb leysa (to solve), so it takes the accusative case. The base word is the feminine noun kreppa. In the accusative, it changes to kreppu, and when we add the definite article suffix for feminine accusative words (-na), it becomes kreppuna.
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