Breakdown of Við lágum í grasinu og horfðum á skýin.
og
and
við
we
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
horfa
to watch
á
to/at (with verbs of perception: hlusta á, horfa á)
liggja
to lie (be in a horizontal position)
skýið
the cloud
grasið
the grass
Questions & Answers about Við lágum í grasinu og horfðum á skýin.
What is the infinitive of lágum, and why does it look so different?
Lágum is the past tense 'we' form of the strong verb liggja (to lie down). Just like in English, strong verbs in Icelandic change their core vowel in the past tense rather than taking a regular ending.
Why is the word for grass in the dative case (grasinu) after í?
The preposition í takes the dative case when it describes a stationary location (where something is). If we were moving into the grass, it would take the accusative, but since we are already resting there, it must be dative.
If stationary actions take the dative, why does á take the accusative case for skýin (the clouds)?
That is because horfa á (to look at / to watch) is a fixed phrasal verb. When á is tied to this specific verb, it always forces the following noun into the accusative case, completely overriding the usual motion/location rules.
How can you tell that skýin means the clouds (plural) and not just the cloud?
Ský (cloud) is a neuter noun that has the exact same form in both the singular and the plural. You can only tell it is plural here because of the definite article suffix -in in skýin. If it were singular, it would be skýið.
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