Breakdown of Nemandinn er áttavilltur og þarf að tala við starfsráðgjafann.
vera
to be
og
and
nemandinn
the student
tala
to speak
að
to (infinitive marker)
þurfa
to need
við
with (talking with)
áttavilltur
lost
starfsráðgjafinn
the career counselor
Questions & Answers about Nemandinn er áttavilltur og þarf að tala við starfsráðgjafann.
Why use áttavilltur for "lost" instead of just villtur?
Villtur usually implies being physically lost or wandering (or wild/feral). Áttavilltur literally means "direction-lost" (átt + villtur). While it can mean losing your physical bearings in the wilderness, it is widely used metaphorically for feeling confused, disoriented, or lacking direction in life, which perfectly describes a student who needs career guidance.
Let's break down the compound word starfsráðgjafi. What are its parts?
It is built from starf (work or profession) + a connecting -s- + ráð (advice) + gjafi (giver). So a "work-advice-giver" is a career counselor.
Why does the word end in -ann in starfsráðgjafann?
The preposition við governs the accusative case when it means "to" or "with" in the context of speaking to someone (tala við). The base word is ráðgjafi, which is a weak masculine noun that becomes ráðgjafa in the accusative. Adding the accusative masculine definite article (-nn) gives us starfsráðgjafann.
Is there anything tricky about how the noun nemandi (the student) declines?
Yes, nemandi belongs to a specific group of masculine nouns ending in -andi, which are formed from present participles. In the singular, they decline exactly like standard weak masculine nouns, taking an -a in all oblique cases. However, their plural is irregular and ends in -endur, so the plural of student is nemendur.
If we added the indirect question "about what he should do" to the end of this sentence, would we use the dummy pronoun það?
To say "talk about", you use the preposition um. Following the current lesson's rule, when a preposition introduces an indirect question (a wh-clause), we typically drop the dummy pronoun það. Instead of the clunky tala um það hvað hann á að gera (talk about it what he should do), it is much more natural to drop it and simply say tala um hvað hann á að gera.
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