Breakdown of Geturðu fengið aðstoðarmanninn til að prenta fjárhagsáætlunina?
þú
you
að
to (infinitive marker)
fá
to get
til
to
prenta
to print
geta
to be able to
aðstoðarmaðurinn
the assistant
fjárhagsáætlunin
the budget
Questions & Answers about Geturðu fengið aðstoðarmanninn til að prenta fjárhagsáætlunina?
Why is the assistant (aðstoðarmanninn) in the accusative case?
In this causative construction—fá + person + til að + infinitive—the person you are getting to do the action is the direct object of the verb fá. Therefore, the masculine noun aðstoðarmaður takes its accusative form aðstoðarmann, and with the attached definite article, it becomes aðstoðarmanninn.
Why do we use the form fengið instead of the infinitive fá?
The sentence starts with geturðu (a merged form of getur þú, meaning "can you"). In Icelandic, the auxiliary verb geta (can/to be able to) always requires the following main verb to be in the supine form (the past participle without agreement). The supine of fá is fengið.
Could we drop the til and just say "fengið aðstoðarmanninn að prenta"?
No, you must use til að here. While English just uses "to" ("get the assistant to print"), Icelandic requires the full prepositional phrase til að (literally "in order to") before the infinitive verb when using fá to mean persuading or arranging for someone to do something.
How does the long word fjárhagsáætlunina break down?
It is a compound noun: fjárhags is the genitive (possessive) form of fjárhagur (finances), and áætlun means "plan" or "schedule". Together they mean "budget". The -ina at the end is the accusative singular definite article ("the"), because the budget is the direct object of the verb prenta (to print).
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