Breakdown of Ég vil rétta kennaranum stílabókina.
ég
I
kennarinn
the teacher
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
rétta
to hand
Questions & Answers about Ég vil rétta kennaranum stílabókina.
Why is kennaranum in the dative case while stílabókina is in the accusative case?
The verb rétta is a ditransitive verb, meaning it takes two objects. As is typical for these verbs in Icelandic, the recipient of the action (the indirect object, kennaranum) takes the dative case, while the thing being transferred (the direct object, stílabókina) takes the accusative case.
How are the definite articles formed on the two objects in this sentence?
Both nouns have the definite article attached to their ends, but they look different because of their gender and case. Kennaranum is the masculine dative form of kennari with the dative article -num attached. Stílabókina is the feminine accusative form of stílabók with the accusative article -ina attached.
Why doesn't the verb rétta have the word að in front of it?
The main verb rétta is in the infinitive form because it follows the modal verb vilja (conjugated here as vil for ég). Unlike many other verbs, vilja is followed directly by an infinitive without the infinitive marker að. You will also see this rule with other modal verbs like skulu and munu.
Are there other meanings for the verb rétta besides handing something to someone?