Breakdown of Þú getur blandað ólífuolíunni og sítrónunni saman.
og
and
þú
you
saman
together / on end (after a dative plural time noun)
geta
to be able to
blanda
to mix (+ Dative)
sítrónan
the lemon
ólífuolían
the olive oil
Questions & Answers about Þú getur blandað ólífuolíunni og sítrónunni saman.
Why are ólífuolíunni and sítrónunni in the dative case?
The verb blanda governs the dative case for the ingredients being mixed. Since both nouns are specific, they take their dative definite feminine endings, giving us ólífuolíunni and sítrónunni.
Why do we use the form blandað here instead of the infinitive blanda?
The auxiliary verb geta (to be able to) is unique in Icelandic because it always requires the main verb to be in the supine form (sagnbót), not the infinitive. This form is identical to the neuter singular past participle. Other modal verbs like vilja or skulu would take the infinitive.
Could I say blandað ólífuolíunni saman við sítrónuna instead?
Yes, but notice the case change. When you coordinate the two ingredients with og, both act as direct objects of blanda and take the dative case. If you use saman við (together with), the preposition við governs the accusative case, changing the dative sítrónunni to the accusative sítrónuna.
Connecting to our current lesson, how would you use the participle of blanda as a weak adjective to say 'the mixed oil'?
To use it as a definite attributive adjective, it must take the weak declension. Since olía is feminine, the nominative weak form is blandaða, giving us blandaða olían. If it were in an oblique case like the dative, an ending with 'u' triggers a U-shift, changing the 'a' to 'ö': blönduðu olíunni.
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