Breakdown of Þegar geimskutlan kom í geimstöðina vantaði okkur súrefnið.
koma
to come
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
okkur
us
vanta
to need (to lack)
þegar
when
geimskutlan
the space shuttle
geimstöðin
the space station
súrefnið
the oxygen
Questions & Answers about Þegar geimskutlan kom í geimstöðina vantaði okkur súrefnið.
Why is the main clause verb vantaði placed immediately after the comma instead of saying okkur vantaði?
Why does the verb vanta take the pronoun okkur? Isn't við (we) the subject?
Vanta (to lack / to need) is an impersonal verb. The person who lacks something is always put in the accusative case, not the nominative. Here, okkur is the accusative form of við. The thing that is lacking, súrefnið, is also strictly in the accusative case.
Why do we use the accusative geimstöðina after í rather than the dative geimstöðinni?
The preposition í takes the accusative case when it indicates motion or moving towards a destination. Because the space shuttle arrived into or at the space station, we use the accusative. If the shuttle were already resting stationary inside it, we would use the dative.
Since this lesson is about engu að síður (nevertheless), how would we add it to this sentence to say we nevertheless lacked the oxygen?
You would place the adverbial connective right after the verb and the logical subject of the main clause. The sentence would become: Þegar geimskutlan kom í geimstöðina vantaði okkur engu að síður súrefnið.
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