Breakdown of Við getum ekki ásakað hann um glæpinn.
hann
he
ekki
not
við
we
um
about
geta
to be able to
glæpurinn
the crime
ásaka
to accuse
Questions & Answers about Við getum ekki ásakað hann um glæpinn.
Why is ásakað in the supine form here rather than the infinitive?
The modal verb geta (here conjugated as getum) is special in Icelandic because it takes the supine form of the main verb directly, instead of an infinitive. This contrasts with the lesson's main grammar, where modals like hljóta need the helper phrase að hafa before the supine.
How would I rewrite this sentence to practice the lesson's focus on past logical deduction ("We must have accused him of the crime")?
You would replace getum ekki with hljótum að hafa, giving you: Við hljótum að hafa ásakað hann um glæpinn. The supine verb ásakað stays exactly the same, but now it pairs with the perfect infinitive að hafa instead of geta.
Why do we use the preposition um here for the English word "of"?
Prepositions rarely map one-to-one across languages. In Icelandic, the verb ásaka (to accuse) strictly pairs with the preposition um. It is best to memorize the full phrase as a single block: ásaka einhvern um eitthvað (to accuse someone of something).
What dictates the grammatical case of glæpinn in this sentence?
The preposition um governs the accusative case. The masculine nominative noun glæpur drops its -ur ending to become the accusative glæp, and adding the accusative definite article gives us glæpinn (the crime). The pronoun hann is also accusative, but that is triggered directly by the verb ásaka.
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