Breakdown of Ég ætla að skola fiskabúrið þangað til það er hreint.
vera
to be
ég
I
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
to (infinitive marker)
ætla
to intend
hreinn
clean
þangað til
until
fiskabúrið
the aquarium
skola
to rinse
Questions & Answers about Ég ætla að skola fiskabúrið þangað til það er hreint.
Since this lesson is about dropping "það", why do we keep it in "þangað til það er hreint"?
The dropping rule only applies to the expletive or "dummy" það—the empty subject used in phrases like "it is raining" or "there is a cat". In this sentence, það isn't a dummy word; it's a standard personal pronoun ("it") standing in for the neuter noun fiskabúrið. You can't drop a pronoun that refers to a specific real-world object.
Why is the connecting vowel an "a" in "fiskabúrið" rather than just combining "fiskur" and "búr"?
What case is "fiskabúrið" in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb skola (to rinse). For the neuter noun búr, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form, so the word looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.
I sometimes hear people say "þangað til að". Is it missing the "að" here?
Both þangað til and þangað til að are perfectly correct when introducing a clause. In written or slightly more formal Icelandic, the að is often dropped, while in casual everyday speech you will frequently hear þangað til að það er hreint.
Why does the adjective take the form "hreint" instead of "hreinn"?
Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Since fiskabúrið is a neuter noun, the pronoun það is neuter, so the base adjective hreinn (clean) must take the neuter singular nominative form, which is hreint.
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