Questions & Answers about Ég hitaði þér mjólkina áðan.
Why is the pronoun þér in the dative case here when the verb hita usually takes an accusative object?
This is the dative of advantage. The verb hita does take the accusative for the thing being heated (mjólkina), but Icelandic allows you to slip in a dative pronoun to show who benefits from the action. It functions just like saying "for you" in English.
Could I use the preposition fyrir instead of the dative here?
Does the word order matter if I use the dative of advantage?
Yes, the dative pronoun (þér) almost always comes immediately after the verb, before the direct object (mjólkina). This is similar to English structure when you say "I baked you a cake" rather than "I baked a cake you."
The word áðan translates to "earlier" here. Can I use it to mean "earlier in history" or "previously"?
No, áðan specifically means "a little while ago" or "earlier today". If you want to talk about something happening further back in the past or "previously" in a more general sense, you would use words like áður.
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