Breakdown of Stelpan veður út í lækinn.
stelpan
the girl
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
út
out (motion outwards)
vaða
to wade
Questions & Answers about Stelpan veður út í lækinn.
Why is lækinn in the accusative case here instead of the dative?
The preposition í takes the accusative case when it describes movement towards a destination (into the brook). If the girl were already standing and wading around inside the brook without crossing a boundary into it, it would take the dative case (í læknum).
Why do we use the compound preposition út í instead of just í?
In Icelandic, entering a body of water like a brook, river, lake, or the sea is conceptually thought of as going "out" into it. The place adverb út combines with í to emphasize the direction of the movement from the bank out into the water.
The verb veður looks a bit different from its infinitive. What is the base verb?
The infinitive is vaða (to wade). It is a strong verb that undergoes a vowel shift in the present singular, changing the a to an e so it becomes ég veð, þú veður, hún veður.
What is the dictionary form of lækinn, and how is the definite article attached?
The base noun is lækur (a brook), which is a masculine noun. In the accusative case, it drops the -ur ending and becomes læk. When you attach the masculine accusative definite article -inn, you get lækinn.