Breakdown of Það er verið að undirbúa niðurrifið út af veðrinu.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
to (infinitive marker)
veðrið
the weather
undirbúa
to prepare
út af
because of (+ dative)
niðurrifið
the demolition
Questions & Answers about Það er verið að undirbúa niðurrifið út af veðrinu.
How does the impersonal continuous passive 'Það er verið að' work in this sentence?
The structure Það er verið að followed by an infinitive (undirbúa) creates a continuous passive meaning: an action is currently being done to something, but we aren't saying who is doing it. Það acts as a dummy subject to fill the required subject spot at the beginning of the sentence.
Why is 'niðurrifið' grammatically in the accusative case here, even though it acts like the subject in the English translation?
In this impersonal passive construction, the main verb keeps its normal case requirements. Because undirbúa (to prepare) takes an accusative object, niðurrifið is in the accusative. The grammatical subject of the Icelandic sentence is actually the dummy pronoun Það, not the demolition itself.
Could we use 'vegna' instead of 'út af' to say 'because of'?
Yes, but it changes the grammar slightly. Both mean "because of", but út af is very common in everyday speech and takes the dative case (making it veðrinu). Vegna is slightly more formal and takes the genitive case, so the phrase would become vegna veðursins.
How is the noun 'niðurrif' built?
It is a literal compound of niður (down) and rif (a tear or pull, from the verb rífa, to tear). Add the neuter definite article -ið, and you get niðurrifið (the tearing-down or the demolition).
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