Question 1

How would I change this sentence to say 'our chorus' and how does the word order affect the focus?

Accepted Answer

You would usually put the possessive after the noun, keeping the definite article: viðlagið okkar. If you put it before the noun and say okkar viðlag, it places heavy emphasis on the possessive, meaning 'OUR chorus' as opposed to someone else's. This is a key feature of Icelandic possessive syntax.

Question 2

Both viðlagið and rifrildið are neuter nouns with the definite article, but how are their endings attached differently?

Accepted Answer

Viðlag ends in a consonant, so it takes the full neuter article -ið to become viðlagið. However, the base word for argument is rifrildi, which already ends in an -i. Therefore, it only takes a -ð to become rifrildið. A common mistake is assuming the root word is just 'rifrild'.

Question 3

Could I use the simple past við spiluðum instead of við vorum að spila?

Accepted Answer

While grammatically possible, vorum að spila is much more natural here. The vera að plus infinitive construction clearly sets up the playing of the chorus as an ongoing background action that was suddenly interrupted by the argument. Við spiluðum would sound like a simple statement of a completed event.

Question 4

Why is þegar used for 'when' in this sentence instead of hvenær?

Accepted Answer

Hvenær is strictly a question word used when asking for a time. Because this sentence is a statement using 'when' to connect two clauses, meaning 'at the time that', you must use the conjunction þegar.

Við vorum að spila viðlagið þegar rifrildið byrjaði.

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