Breakdown of Við völdum fallega snjókúlu handa ömmu til þess að gleðja hana.
hún
she
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
fallegur
beautiful
við
we
að
to (infinitive marker)
amman
the grandmother
velja
to choose
til
to
handa
for (someone's benefit) (+ Dative)
gleðja
to gladden
snjókúlan
the snow globe
Questions & Answers about Við völdum fallega snjókúlu handa ömmu til þess að gleðja hana.
Why use handa ömmu here instead of fyrir ömmu?
The preposition handa is used specifically when you are getting a gift, making something, or acquiring a tangible item for someone to have or keep. Since the snow globe is a present for grandma, handa is the perfect choice. It requires the dative case, changing amma to ömmu. If you used fyrir, it might imply you did the choosing on her behalf because she couldn't do it herself.
What case is fallega snjókúlu and why?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb að velja (to choose). The noun is snjókúla (a feminine word meaning snow globe). The adjective fallegur must match it in gender, number, and case, giving us the accusative feminine form fallega.
Is there a difference between saying til að gleðja hana and til þess að gleðja hana?
They mean the exact same thing ("in order to make her happy"). Adding the genitive pronoun þess makes the phrase a bit more emphatic or formal, spelling out "for the purpose of". At a B2 level, you will hear both constantly. Til þess að often feels slightly more deliberate, while til að is quick and extremely common in spoken Icelandic.
Does gleðja always take the accusative case, even though we just used the dative for grandma?
Yes! The verb að gleðja (to make someone happy / to gladden) governs the accusative case. Even though grandma was in the dative right before this (handa ömmu), the pronoun hana (her) is now the direct object of gleðja, so it must be in the accusative.
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