Breakdown of Mér finnst vegalengdin héðan of löng.
finnast
to find, to think
mér
me (dative)
langur
long
of
too
héðan
from here
vegalengdin
the distance
Questions & Answers about Mér finnst vegalengdin héðan of löng.
How does héðan fit in with other words for 'here' like hér and hingað?
In Icelandic, location words change based on direction. Hér is used for a stationary location (here), hingað is for moving towards a location (to here), and héðan is for moving away from a location (from here). The -an ending is a strong clue that the adverb shows origin.
Why do we use Mér finnst instead of Ég finn to say 'I find'?
The verb finnast (to have an opinion about something) always takes a subject in the dative case, which is why ég becomes mér. If you used ég finn (from the active verb finna), it would mean you are physically touching or discovering something, rather than expressing a subjective opinion.
Since héðan means 'from here', does it act like a preposition and change the case of the noun?
No, héðan is a directional adverb, not a preposition. While a preposition like frá (from) would force a following noun into the dative case, héðan stands alone to describe the starting point and does not govern the case of any surrounding words.
Why does the sentence use löng instead of the dictionary form langur?
The adjective must agree with the noun it describes, which is vegalengdin (the distance). Because vegalengd is a feminine noun in the nominative case, the adjective takes the feminine, singular, nominative form, which triggers a vowel shift from 'a' to 'ö' to become löng.
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