Breakdown of Óskilamunadeildin er að skrásetja eigandalausu töskuna.
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
taskan
the bag
óskilamunadeildin
the lost and found department (f)
skrásetja
to register
eigandalaus
ownerless
Questions & Answers about Óskilamunadeildin er að skrásetja eigandalausu töskuna.
The current lesson is about impersonal passives of prepositional verbs. Can we use that structure for this sentence?
No, because skrásetja (to register) is not a prepositional verb—it takes a direct object (töskuna) instead of using a preposition. To make this sentence passive, you would use a standard personal passive: Eigandalausa taskan er skrásett (The ownerless bag is registered).
How exactly does the long compound word óskilamunadeildin break down?
It is built from ó- (un- / non-) + skil (return) + munir (items/objects) + deild (department) + -in (the). The first part, óskilamunir, is the standard Icelandic noun for "lost property" or "unclaimed items."
Why does the adjective eigandalausu end in -u here?
It uses the weak declension because it modifies a definite noun (töskuna, the bag). For a feminine noun in the accusative case, the weak adjective ending is -u. If it were modifying an indefinite bag, you would use the strong feminine accusative ending -a instead (eigandalausa tösku).
How do we form the word eigandalaus (ownerless)?
It combines eigandi (owner) with the common suffix -laus (-less / free from). When compounding words like this, Icelandic frequently puts the first word in the genitive case. Since the genitive singular of eigandi is eiganda, we get eiganda-laus.
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