Breakdown of Útsetningin er ekki samin af hljóðmanninum.
vera
to be
ekki
not
af
by (agent of a passive)
semja
to compose
útsetningin
the arrangement (music)
hljóðmaðurinn
the sound engineer
Questions & Answers about Útsetningin er ekki samin af hljóðmanninum.
Why do we use af followed by the dative case here?
In Icelandic passive sentences, the agent (the person who actually does the action) is introduced by the preposition af. This preposition always forces the following noun into the dative case, which is why the nominative hljóðmaðurinn changes to the dative hljóðmanninum.
Why is the verb form samin instead of samið?
In passive voice constructions using vera (to be), the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. The subject útsetningin is feminine singular, so the past participle of semja (to compose) takes the feminine singular form samin rather than the default neuter samið.
What causes the spelling change from maður to manninum in the agent?
The compound word hljóðmaður (sound engineer) ends with the common noun maður. This word has an irregular dative singular form: manni. When you attach the dative masculine definite article -num, the full word becomes hljóðmanninum.
Is it possible to use frá instead of af to mean "by" the sound engineer?
No, you cannot. While both prepositions can sometimes overlap in English translations, af is the only correct preposition to express the agent (the doer of the action) in an Icelandic passive clause. Frá strictly denotes origin, source, or movement away from something.
Learn Útsetningin er ekki samin af hljóðmanninum and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free