Word
Afgreiðslukonan brosti til mín.
Meaning
The shop assistant smiled at me.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Afgreiðslukonan brosti til mín.
ég
I
brosa
to smile
til
to
afgreiðslukonan
the shop assistant (woman)
Questions & Answers about Afgreiðslukonan brosti til mín.
How is the long word Afgreiðslukonan built?
It is a compound word. The first part is afgreiðslu, which is the genitive linking form of afgreiðsla (meaning service or counter). The second part is kona (meaning woman), with the feminine definite article -n attached to the end to make it definite.
Why does the sentence use mín instead of mér or mig?
The preposition til always requires the following noun or pronoun to be in the genitive case. The genitive form of ég is mín.
Why do we use til instead of a direct translation for at?
Icelandic pairs the verb brosa with the preposition til, which usually means to or towards. Translating at literally with a preposition like að sounds unnatural here because in Icelandic, you smile towards someone.
What is the infinitive of brosti?
The infinitive is brosa (to smile). It is a regular weak verb that forms its past tense by adding a suffix. Here, brosti is the past tense form for the third-person singular, matching the shop assistant.