Breakdown of Ég þarf að binda enda á þennan fjandskap af því að hann er skaðlegur.
vera
to be
ég
I
hann
he
að
to (infinitive marker)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
þurfa
to need
þessi
this (m/f)
af því að
because
skaðlegur
harmful
binda
to bind
endinn
the end
fjandskapurinn
the hostility
Questions & Answers about Ég þarf að binda enda á þennan fjandskap af því að hann er skaðlegur.
How is the word fjandskap formed, and what happened to the -ur at the end?
It is formed by combining fjandi (enemy or fiend) with the masculine suffix -skapur, which creates abstract nouns denoting a state, quality, or behavior (similar to "-ship" or "-ness" in English). The -ur ending is dropped here because the word is in the accusative case, governed by the preposition á.
The phrase is binda enda á. Why is enda used instead of endi?
The idiom binda enda á translates literally to "bind an end to". The verb binda takes the accusative case for the object being bound, and the weak masculine noun endi (end) becomes enda in the accusative.
Why does the second half of the sentence use hann to mean "it"?
Pronouns in Icelandic must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Since fjandskapur is a masculine noun, you must use the masculine pronoun hann rather than the neuter það. The adjective skaðlegur (harmful) also takes the masculine nominative ending to match.
Is the suffix in skaðlegur productive in the same way as -skapur?
Yes, -legur is a highly productive suffix used to turn nouns or verbs into adjectives, much like "-ful", "-ous", or "-y" in English. Here it attaches to the root of the noun skaði (harm or damage) to create skaðlegur (harmful).
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