Breakdown of Skólastjórinn vildi sjá inntökuprófið.
sjá
to see
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
skólastjórinn
the headmaster
inntökuprófið
the entrance exam
Questions & Answers about Skólastjórinn vildi sjá inntökuprófið.
I don't see an adjective governing the genitive here. How does the genitive case appear in this sentence?
While there are no adjectives governing the genitive here, the genitive case is doing the heavy lifting to build the compound nouns! In inntökuprófið (the entrance exam), the first part is inntöku, the genitive singular of inntaka (admission). Similarly, skólastjórinn combines skóla, the genitive of skóli (school), with stjóri (manager).
Why doesn't the verb vildi have að before the next verb sjá?
Vilja (to want) functions as a modal verb in Icelandic, which means it takes a bare infinitive. You simply say vildi sjá (wanted to see), completely dropping the infinitive marker að.
Why is the ending of inntökuprófið just -ið if it's the direct object?
As the direct object of the verb sjá, the noun is in the accusative case. Because próf is a neuter noun, its nominative and accusative forms are identical. Thus, the attached definite article remains -ið just as it would in the nominative.
In a compound noun like skólastjórinn, which part dictates the gender and article?
In Icelandic compound nouns, only the final noun dictates the gender, declension, and definite article. Here, stjóri is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine definite article -nn. The first part, skóla, is permanently locked in its genitive form regardless of the sentence structure.
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