Breakdown of Mér sýnist að strákarnir ætli að brjótast inn í húsið!
húsið
the house
strákurinn
the boy
mér
me (dative)
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
ætla
to intend
inn
in (motion inwards)
sýnast
to seem
brjótast
to break (force one's way)
Questions & Answers about Mér sýnist að strákarnir ætli að brjótast inn í húsið!
Why is it mér sýnist instead of using ég as the subject?
Sýnast is an impersonal middle-voice verb. With verbs of perception like 'it seems to me', Icelandic uses a dative experiencer. So instead of 'I', you use the dative mér. The verb sýnist is in the third-person singular because the grammatical subject is a hidden 'it' (literally 'it appears to me').
Why is the verb ætli used here instead of the regular present tense ætla?
Ætli is the subjunctive form of ætla (to intend / be going to). Subordinate clauses following verbs of subjective perception, like mér sýnist að (it seems to me that), trigger the subjunctive mood. This happens because the sentence expresses a subjective impression or uncertainty rather than an established objective fact.
Is brjótast another impersonal verb like sýnist?
No, brjótast is a regular middle-voice verb here. While sýnast acts impersonally with the dative mér, brjótast inn (to break in) is the middle-voice version of brjóta (to break) and takes a normal nominative subject. In this clause, the subject doing the action is strákarnir (the boys).
Why is húsið in the accusative case?
The compound preposition inn í (into) shows movement or direction toward a destination, which requires the accusative case. Because the boys are moving from the outside to the inside, húsið is accusative. If they were already doing something statically inside the house, you would use í plus the dative case (húsinu).
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