Word
Má ég aka bílnum þínum?
Meaning
May I drive your car?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Má ég aka bílnum þínum?
bíllinn
the car
ég
I
þinn
your (m, f, n: þinn, þín, þitt)
mega
to be allowed to
Questions & Answers about Má ég aka bílnum þínum?
Why does the sentence use aka instead of the common word keyra to mean "drive"?
Both aka and keyra mean "to drive". Keyra is the most common word used in everyday speech, while aka is a bit more formal or common in written Icelandic. Both verbs require the vehicle being driven to be in the dative case.
Why are the words bílnum and þínum in the dative case here?
The verb aka (just like keyra) governs the dative case. That means the object being driven, in this case the car, must take the dative form, which is bílnum. The possessive pronoun þínum must match the noun in case, gender (masculine), and number (singular).
If þínum means "your", why does bílnum have the definite article attached to it?
In Icelandic, when you use a possessive pronoun like þinn (your) or minn (my), it usually comes right after the noun. When placed after the noun like this, the noun must have the definite article attached to it. So, you literally say "car-the your" (bílnum þínum).
What verb does má come from, and why isn't there an að before the next verb?