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Ekki stressa þig á þessu.

Ekki stressa þig á þessu.
Don't stress yourself about this.
From Lesson 265:Heilsa og líðan — health and wellbeing·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Ekki stressa þig á þessu.

Why is the verb stressa in the infinitive here rather than an imperative form like stressaðu?
In Icelandic, negative commands are typically formed by putting ekki (not) in front of the infinitive form of the verb. If you were giving a positive command, you would use the imperative stressaðu, but for a negative command like "don't stress", it is simply ekki stressa.
Why is þig used here instead of a dative or genitive pronoun?
The verb phrase is stressa sig (to stress oneself). Like many reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun takes the accusative case. Because the sentence is addressed to "you" singular, the accusative reflexive pronoun is þig.
The translation says "about this", so why use the preposition á instead of um?
While um often translates directly to "about", Icelandic relies on fixed prepositional phrases for many verbs. The idiomatic phrase here is stressa sig á einhverju, meaning to stress out over or about something. You simply have to memorize that stressa sig pairs with á.
Why is the word for "this" in the dative form þessu instead of the accusative þetta?
The preposition á can trigger either the accusative or the dative case. When it is used in a figurative, stationary, or abstract sense like this, it takes the dative. Therefore, the neuter pronoun þetta changes to its dative form, þessu.

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