Breakdown of Áreksturinn varð á horninu.
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
verða
to become; will be
hornið
the corner
áreksturinn
the collision, the car crash
Questions & Answers about Áreksturinn varð á horninu.
I thought verða meant "to become" or "must". Why is it translated as "happened" here?
While verða often means "to become" or "must", it is also commonly used to mean "to happen" or "to occur" when talking about sudden events, accidents, or weather. So Áreksturinn varð means "The collision occurred". You could also use gerðist (happened), but varð is very natural for this kind of event.
Why does á trigger the dative case for horninu here?
The preposition á takes the dative case when describing a stationary location (where something is), and the accusative case when describing motion towards a destination. Because the collision happened at a fixed location (the corner), á is followed by the dative form horninu.
How is the ending of horninu built?
The base word is horn (corner), which is a neuter noun. In the dative case, it becomes horni. When you add the definite article meaning "the" for a dative neuter word, which is -nu, you get horninu (at the corner).
Why does áreksturinn have a double 'n' at the end?
The noun árekstur (collision) is a masculine word. Because it is the subject of the sentence, it is in the nominative case. To say "the collision", you add the masculine nominative definite article -inn to the end, resulting in áreksturinn.
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