Breakdown of Í gær dreymdi mig hræðilega martröð.
mig
me (acc)
í gær
yesterday
dreyma
to dream
hræðilegur
terrible
martröðin
the nightmare
Questions & Answers about Í gær dreymdi mig hræðilega martröð.
Why do we use mig instead of ég?
The verb dreyma (to dream) requires a quirky subject in the accusative case. Instead of saying "I dreamt," Icelandic grammar treats it more like "it dreamt me." That is why we use the accusative pronoun mig.
Why is the verb dreymdi if the subject is me?
When a verb has a quirky subject that is not in the nominative case, the verb does not conjugate to match the person. Instead, it always defaults to the 3rd person singular form. Here, the past tense is dreymdi (it dreamt) regardless of who is dreaming.
What case is hræðilega martröð in?
It is also in the accusative case! Dreyma is one of a few special verbs that takes a double accusative. This means both the person who is dreaming (mig) and the thing being dreamt (martröð) are put into the accusative case.
Why does the verb dreymdi come before mig?
This is a reminder of the V2 (verb-second) rule. Because the sentence starts with the time phrase Í gær (yesterday), the verb dreymdi must take the second position in the sentence. This pushes the subject mig into the third spot.
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