Breakdown of Ég leitaði að eintakinu en það er ekki til.
ég
I
en
but
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
ekki
not
að
for (searching for)
leita
to search
vera til
to exist / be available
eintakið
the copy (instance, specimen)
Questions & Answers about Ég leitaði að eintakinu en það er ekki til.
What exactly does er ekki til mean here? Does it mean the copy is a myth, or just out of stock?
The particle verb vera til can mean either "to exist" or "to be available." In the context of a copy of something (like a book or a document), það er ekki til usually translates to "it is not available" or "it is out of stock," rather than meaning it physically doesn't exist in the universe.
Why do we use the preposition að after leitaði?
While að often translates to "to" or "towards," the verb leita (to search or look) specifically pairs with the preposition að to express what you are looking for. Together, leita að means "to search for," and it always forces the following noun into the dative case.
Why does the word for "copy" take the form eintakinu here?
The base word is eintak, which is a neuter noun. Because the phrase leita að requires the dative case, and we are talking about a specific copy, we add the dative definite article suffix -inu to the end. This turns eintak into eintakinu (for the copy).
Why do we use það for "it" in the second half of the sentence?
In Icelandic, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Because eintak (copy) is a neuter noun, we use the neuter pronoun það (it) to refer back to it, rather than the masculine hann or feminine hún.
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