Breakdown of Bíllinn var nærri því kraminn undir trénu.
vera
to be
bíllinn
the car
því
it (dative)
tréð
the tree
undir
under
nærri
nearly
kremja
to crush
Questions & Answers about Bíllinn var nærri því kraminn undir trénu.
How does the construction vera nærri því work with kraminn in this sentence?
The phrase vera nærri því literally means to be near to something, but idiomatically translates to almost. When expressing that an action almost happened to the subject, we follow it with the past participle of the verb. This participle acts like an adjective, so kraminn must agree with the subject Bíllinn in case, gender, and number, which is why it takes the masculine nominative singular form.
What is the infinitive of the verb for kraminn, and why does its vowel change?
The infinitive is kremja (to crush). It undergoes a vowel shift in its past participle form to become kraminn for masculine subjects, krömd for feminine, or kramið for neuter. You will often see this e-to-a or e-to-ö shift in the past participles of certain Icelandic verbs.
Why is trénu in the dative case after undir?
The preposition undir can take either the accusative or dative case. It takes the dative when describing a fixed location, which fits here since the car was stationary under the tree when the event happened. If the car had been actively moving into a position under the tree, undir would instead trigger the accusative form tréð.
Why is the word því included in the phrase nærri því?
The word nærri means near, and in Icelandic, being near to something governs the dative case. The word því is the dative form of the pronoun það (it or that). Literally, the phrase means near to that, but it functions together as a fixed chunk meaning almost.
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