Breakdown of Hún hafði aldrei fengið jakkann hreinsaðan í fatahreinsuninni.
hún
she
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
fá
to get
aldrei
never
jakkinn
the jacket
hafa
to have
fatahreinsunin
the dry cleaner
hreinsa
to clean (cleanse, purify)
Questions & Answers about Hún hafði aldrei fengið jakkann hreinsaðan í fatahreinsuninni.
Why does hreinsaðan end in -an?
In the 'get something done' structure (fá + object + past participle), the past participle must agree with the object it describes. The object here is jakkann (the jacket), which is masculine, singular, and accusative. Therefore, the past participle hreinsaður (cleaned) becomes hreinsaðan to match.
Why do we use fengið here instead of the past tense fékk?
The sentence is in the past perfect tense ('had never gotten'). To form this, you use the conjugated helping verb hafa (here, hafði) plus the supine form of the main verb, which always looks like the neuter singular past participle. The supine of fá is fengið.
Where does the adverb aldrei belong in a sentence with two verbs?
Why is fatahreinsuninni in the dative case here?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a fixed location (answering 'where?'), such as being at the dry cleaner. The -inni ending tells us that the word is feminine, singular, and definite ('the' dry cleaner).
Learn Hún hafði aldrei fengið jakkann hreinsaðan í fatahreinsuninni and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free