Word
Fagmaðurinn skoðar tjónið að utan.
Meaning
The professional inspects the damage from the outside.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Fagmaðurinn skoðar tjónið að utan.
skoða
to look at
fagmaðurinn
the professional
tjónið
the damage
að utan
from the outside / on the outside (with að)
Questions & Answers about Fagmaðurinn skoðar tjónið að utan.
Why does að utan mean 'from the outside' when að usually translates to 'to' or 'towards'?
While að by itself often indicates motion towards something, in this specific set of spatial adverbs, it indicates the origin of the perspective. You can think of it as the view traveling from the outside towards the observer's eyes. Therefore, að utan means 'from the outside'.
If the professional were inspecting the damage from the inside, how would this change?
You would replace að utan with að innan. Following the same logic, að indicates the origin of the view, so looking from the inside out is að innan.
How is the word Fagmaðurinn constructed?
It is a compound word made of fag (meaning 'profession', 'trade', or 'subject') and maðurinn (meaning 'the man' or 'the person'). Together they mean 'the professional'.
Why does tjónið (the damage) look like a subject here?
It is actually the direct object of the verb skoðar (inspects), which means it is in the accusative case. Because tjón is a neuter noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative (subject) form.