Breakdown of Barnapían faðmar óværa barnið til að hugga það.
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
barnið
the child
að
to (infinitive marker)
faðma
to hug
til
to
barnapían
the babysitter
óvær
fussy
hugga
to comfort
Questions & Answers about Barnapían faðmar óværa barnið til að hugga það.
The lesson is about transitive and intransitive verbs. How does the verb hugga fit into this?
Hugga is a transitive verb meaning to comfort, requiring a direct object. Unlike verbs that have a completely different vowel-shifted twin for their intransitive form (like vekja and vakna), hugga becomes intransitive by taking the middle voice -st ending. Huggast means to be comforted or to calm down, and it does not take an object.
The dictionary form for fussy is óvær. Why is it written as óværa here?
It uses the weak adjective declension. Because it describes a noun with the attached definite article (barnið, the child), the adjective must be weak. The weak ending for a neuter singular noun in the accusative case is -a. If it were an indefinite fussy child, you would use the strong neuter form óvært barn.
What case is the pronoun það at the end of the sentence?
It is in the accusative case, acting as the direct object of the verb hugga. The word það means it and refers back to barnið (the child). Because barnið is a neuter grammatical gender, we use the neuter pronoun.
What purpose does til að serve before the verb?
The phrase til að translates to the English phrase in order to. It shows the purpose behind the babysitter hugging the child. It is always followed by a verb in the infinitive form, creating til að hugga.
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