Breakdown of Mörg hundruð manns eru farin að syngja saman í skrúðgöngunni.
vera
to be
saman
together / on end (after a dative plural time noun)
fara
to go
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
syngja
to sing
hundrað
one hundred
margur
many
manns
people (for counting)
skrúðgangan
the parade
Questions & Answers about Mörg hundruð manns eru farin að syngja saman í skrúðgöngunni.
Why do we use the singular genitive manns instead of the plural manna for 'hundreds of people'?
When counting people with high numbers (like hundreds or thousands) or indefinite quantities (like 'a lot of' or 'many'), Icelandic uses the invariable partitive genitive manns. Even though it literally means 'of a man', it acts as a fixed collective term meaning 'of people' in these phrases.
Why is the participle farin in the neuter plural form?
Doesn't farin mean 'gone'? Why is the sentence translated as 'starting to sing'?
While fara literally means 'to go', the construction fara að followed by an infinitive is a very common idiom meaning 'to start doing something'. So, eru farin að syngja translates smoothly to 'are starting to sing'.
Why is skrúðganga (parade) in the dative case here?
It follows the preposition í. When í indicates a static location or state (where something is happening, such as being 'in the parade'), it governs the dative case. With the definite article attached, skrúðganga becomes skrúðgöngunni.
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