Breakdown of Lögreglan sleppti fanganum í gær.
í gær
yesterday
lögreglan
the police
sleppa
to let go, to escape / to avoid / get out of
fanginn
the prisoner
Questions & Answers about Lögreglan sleppti fanganum í gær.
Why is the past tense sleppti here instead of slapp?
The verb sleppa actually has two forms depending on its meaning. When it means to escape, it is a strong verb with the past tense slapp. However, when it means to release or to let go of, as it does in this sentence, it is a weak verb with the past tense sleppti.
Why is fanganum in the dative case?
When sleppa is used as a transitive verb meaning to release or to let go of, it requires its object to be in the dative case. Therefore, the base word fangi takes the dative form fanga, which becomes fanganum with the attached definite article.
English treats the word police as plural, but the verb sleppti is singular here. Is lögreglan always singular in Icelandic?
What is the base form of fanganum, and how do we get this dative definite form?
The base word is fangi, which is a weak masculine noun. In the dative singular, the ending changes to -a, making it fanga. To add the dative masculine definite article, we attach -num, resulting in fanganum.
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