Breakdown of Ég sé bílinn keyra fyrir austan skagann.
bíllinn
the car
ég
I
sjá
to see
keyra
to drive
fyrir
on the ... side of (with directional adverbs)
austan
from the east
skaginn
the peninsula
Questions & Answers about Ég sé bílinn keyra fyrir austan skagann.
Why do we use fyrir austan for "east of", and why does it take the accusative case?
To say "east of" a place, Icelandic uses the preposition fyrir followed by a directional word ending in -an, which in this case is austan. A special rule for these fyrir + -an compass directions is that they always require the following noun to be in the accusative case. This overrides the usual rule where fyrir might take the dative for a static location.
The English translation says "driving". Why does the Icelandic sentence use the infinitive keyra instead of a participle like keyrandi?
After verbs of perception like sjá (to see) or heyra (to hear), Icelandic uses an object plus the infinitive verb. While English lets you choose between "I see the car drive" and "I see the car driving", Icelandic uses the infinitive keyra. You shouldn't use the present participle keyrandi here.
Why is bílinn in the accusative case here?
It is the direct object of the verb sé (from sjá, to see). When using this "see someone do something" structure, the noun being seen acts as the direct object and must be in the accusative case.
What is the base word for skagann and how is the ending formed?
The base dictionary form is skagi (peninsula), which is a weak masculine noun. In the accusative case, skagi becomes skaga. Then, to say "the peninsula", we add the accusative masculine definite article -nn to the end, giving us skagann.
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