Breakdown of Einhver hlýtur að hafa skilið eftir fingrafarið og fótsporið á vettvanginum.
og
and
að
to (infinitive marker)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
hafa
to have
einhver
someone / some / any (before a noun)
skilja eftir
to leave
hljóta
to must
fótsporið
the footprint
vettvangurinn
the scene (of a crime, event)
fingrafarið
the fingerprint
Questions & Answers about Einhver hlýtur að hafa skilið eftir fingrafarið og fótsporið á vettvanginum.
How is the 'must have done' structure formed in this sentence?
To express a logical deduction about the past, Icelandic uses the verb hljóta (here in the third-person singular hlýtur, meaning 'must') followed by að hafa and the supine form of the main verb. In this sentence, the main verb is skilja, and its supine is skilið. Together, hlýtur að hafa skilið translates to 'must have left'.
Could eftir be placed at the end of the sentence instead of right after skilið?
Grammatically, you could put eftir at the end, but placing it right after skilið is much more natural here. The phrasal verb skilja eftir means 'to leave behind'. When the object is long or consists of multiple items (like fingrafarið og fótsporið), Icelandic prefers to keep the verb and its particle (eftir) together. If the object were just a short pronoun like það (it), it would split the phrase: skilið það eftir.
Why do both fingrafarið and fótsporið take the -ið ending?
The -ið ending is the neuter singular definite article ('the'). In Icelandic, the gender of a compound noun is always determined by its final root word. Because far (print/mark) and spor (track/step) are both neuter, the compound words fingrafar and fótspor are also neuter.
Why is vettvanginum in the dative case here?
The preposition á takes the accusative case when describing movement towards a destination, but the dative case when describing a static location. Even though the person 'left' something, the action of leaving the prints occurred at a specific location. Therefore, the masculine noun vettvangur takes its dative form vettvangi, with the dative definite article -num attached to the end.
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