Breakdown of Það var hlustað á frásögnina í gær.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
hlusta
to listen
í gær
yesterday
Questions & Answers about Það var hlustað á frásögnina í gær.
Why is Það the subject of this sentence instead of the narrative (frásögnin)?
This is an impersonal passive construction. In Icelandic, when a verb takes a preposition (like hlusta á), you cannot simply promote the object of that preposition to a nominative subject like you do in English ("The narrative was listened to"). Instead, you use the dummy subject Það, and leave the object in its original place after the preposition. Literally, it translates closer to: "It was listened to the narrative."
Why doesn't the past participle hlustað agree in gender with frásögnina (which is feminine)?
In an impersonal passive sentence, the grammatical subject is the dummy pronoun það, which is neuter singular. Because of this, the past participle is locked into the neuter singular form (hlustað), completely ignoring the gender or number of the noun that follows the preposition.
Even though the sentence is passive, why does frásögnina stay in the accusative case?
The preposition á dictates the case of the noun, even in a passive sentence. Because the phrasal verb hlusta á requires its object to be in the accusative case, the noun frásögn retains its accusative definite form (frásögnina).
How does stylistic fronting apply to this structure if we turn it into a relative clause?