Breakdown of Lýsandinn, Páll, er búinn að vera að tala mikið um útsendinguna.
vera
to be
tala
to speak
mikið
a lot
að
to (infinitive marker)
um
about
Páll
Páll
búinn
finished
lýsandinn
the commentator
útsendingin
the broadcast
Questions & Answers about Lýsandinn, Páll, er búinn að vera að tala mikið um útsendinguna.
Why is the apposition Páll in the nominative case here, and does it always match the noun it describes?
Yes, nouns in apposition must agree in case. Because Lýsandinn is the subject of the sentence (nominative), the appositive Páll must also be in the nominative. If the sentence had them as the object, like "Ég hlustaði á lýsandann, Pál" (I listened to the commentator, Páll), both would be in the accusative.
Why does Lýsandinn take the definite article (-inn) when paired with a name? Don't titles sometimes drop it?
When a descriptive noun comes before a person's name and is set off by commas (acting as a true appositive phrase, like "The commentator, Páll"), it takes the definite article. If the word were used directly as a formal title without commas (like "Forseti Íslands" for President of Iceland), it would often be indefinite.
er búinn að vera að tala looks like a massive chain of verbs just to say "has been talking". How does this break down?
This combines two compound verb structures you already know. First, vera búinn að (to have done) gives us the perfect tense. Second, vera að + infinitive (to be doing) gives us the continuous tense. Stacked together as er búinn að + vera að tala, it forms the exact equivalent of the English present perfect continuous: "has been talking".
What gender is útsending, and how do we end up with the ending -una in útsendinguna?
Útsending is a feminine noun. As a rule of thumb, almost all Icelandic nouns ending in -ing are feminine. The preposition um requires the accusative case, and the feminine accusative singular definite article is -ina or -una. Because útsending has a "u-shift" or simply takes the alternative ending in its declension class, the definite suffix becomes -una.
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