Breakdown of Lögreglan rannsakaði glæpinn fimmtánda og sextánda ágúst.
og
and
lögreglan
the police
ágúst
August
glæpurinn
the crime
rannsaka
to investigate
fimmtándi
fifteenth
sextándi
sixteenth
Questions & Answers about Lögreglan rannsakaði glæpinn fimmtánda og sextánda ágúst.
Why do the ordinal numbers fimmtánda and sextánda end in -a here?
When stating the exact date something happened, Icelandic uses the accusative case. These ordinal numbers agree with the implied masculine word dag (day). In the weak declension used for dates, masculine accusative ordinals always end in -a.
Why is there no word for "on" before the dates?
English uses "on" for dates, but Icelandic simply puts the date in the accusative case to show when an action happened. Adding a preposition here would be incorrect; the accusative case alone does the job.
The English translation says "the police investigated", but the Icelandic verb rannsakaði is singular. Why?
Why does the word for "the crime" change to glæpinn in this sentence?
The dictionary form is glæpur, which is a masculine noun. Because it is the direct object being investigated, it must take the accusative case. The nominative -ur ending drops to leave glæp, and we then attach the accusative definite article -inn.
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