Breakdown of Fórnarlambið beið eftir niðurstöðunni átjánda júlí.
bíða
to wait
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
niðurstaðan
the result
fórnarlambið
the victim
júlí
July
átjándi
eighteenth
Questions & Answers about Fórnarlambið beið eftir niðurstöðunni átjánda júlí.
Why is "eighteenth" written as átjánda instead of the dictionary form átjándi?
When expressing that something happened on a specific complete calendar date, Icelandic uses the accusative case (an "accusative of time"). Because month names like júlí are masculine, the ordinal number must take the masculine weak accusative form. The masculine nominative átjándi changes to átjánda in the accusative.
Why does the word for "the result" (niðurstöðunni) take the dative case here?
The verb phrase að bíða eftir (to wait for) always forces the noun you are waiting for into the dative case. The base word is the feminine noun niðurstaða (result), and adding the "the" suffix in the dative singular gives us niðurstöðunni.
Fórnarlambið literally translates to "the sacrifice lamb". Is this the standard word for a victim?
Yes, exactly! It is a compound of fórn (sacrifice) and lamb (lamb). Even though it sounds quite dramatic in English, fórnarlamb is the normal, everyday Icelandic word for a victim of a crime, accident, or scam.
I recognize the verb að bíða (to wait), but how did it become beið in the past tense?
Bíða is a strong verb. This means that instead of adding a regular past tense ending (like -ði), it changes its core vowel. For the past tense singular (he/she/it waited), the í changes to ei, resulting in beið.
Learn Fórnarlambið beið eftir niðurstöðunni átjánda júlí 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