Breakdown of Dómarinn undirritaði skjalið þann sautjánda janúar.
skjalið
the document
dómarinn
the judge
janúar
January
sá
that (sá, sú, það; þann)
undirrita
to sign
sautjándi
seventeenth
Questions & Answers about Dómarinn undirritaði skjalið þann sautjánda janúar.
Why do we use sautjánda instead of the dictionary form sautjándi?
When stating that something happened "on" a specific date, Icelandic puts the entire date phrase into the accusative case. Sautjándi (seventeenth) declines like a weak adjective, and its masculine accusative form is sautjánda.
What is the purpose of the word þann before the date?
Þann is the masculine accusative form of the demonstrative pronoun sá (that). In Icelandic, the standard way to express "on the [date]" is to use þann followed by the ordinal number and the month. It effectively translates to "on the" for calendar dates.
Is the verb undirritaði related to the word for writing?
Yes, it is a compound of undir (under) and rita (to write). Literally translating to "under-write", it is the standard formal verb for "to sign". Here we see it in the past tense.
Since skjalið is the direct object of the sentence, why doesn't its ending look like a typical accusative word?
Because the base word skjal (document) is a neuter noun. Neuter nouns always have the exact same form in the accusative case as they do in the nominative case. The -ið at the end is simply the attached neuter definite article, making it "the document".
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