Breakdown of Um leið og ég sá veðrið vissi ég að við hefðum ekki getað fyrirbyggt neitt tjón.
ég
I
ekki
not
við
we
sjá
to see
veðrið
the weather
vita
to know (a fact, information)
að
that (conjunction)
hafa
to have
geta
to be able to
neinn
any (in negative sentences)
um leið og
as soon as
tjónið
the damage
fyrirbyggja
to prevent (proactively)
Questions & Answers about Um leið og ég sá veðrið vissi ég að við hefðum ekki getað fyrirbyggt neitt tjón.
Why do we use the subjunctive hefðum here instead of the indicative höfðum?
This sentence uses the unreal past to describe something hypothetical that didn't actually happen. To form the 'could have' construction, Icelandic pairs the past subjunctive of hafa (which is hefðum for the pronoun við) with the supine form getað.
The lesson mentions modal constructions, but why is fyrirbyggt used here instead of the infinitive fyrirbyggja?
The verb geta (can/be able to) is a unique modal in Icelandic because it is always followed by the supine form (the neuter past participle) of the main verb, never the infinitive. That is why we use the supine fyrirbyggt. The other modal in this lesson, eiga að (should), is the one that takes the infinitive.
Why is the word order vissi ég rather than ég vissi in the main clause?
This is a great refresher on the strict V2 (verb-second) rule in Icelandic. The entire opening time clause Um leið og ég sá veðrið (As soon as I saw the weather) occupies the first structural slot in the sentence. The main verb vissi must take the second slot, which pushes the subject ég to the other side of the verb.
Why does the sentence use neitt tjón for 'any damage' instead of eitthvað tjón?
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