Question 1

How does the word aldraða work here if it's actually an adjective?

Accepted Answer

In Icelandic, you can use an adjective on its own as a noun to refer to a demographic group. Aldraður means "elderly", so using it in the plural translates to "the elderly". It is in the masculine plural because it refers to a mixed-gender group of people, and it takes the accusative case form aldraða because of the preposition fyrir.

Question 2

Since fyrir can take either the accusative or dative case, why does it force the accusative aldraða here?

Accepted Answer

The preposition fyrir takes the dative when indicating position ("in front of") or time ("ago"). However, when it means "for" in the sense of an intended recipient, purpose, or benefit (like a campaign for someone), it takes the accusative case. If it had been dative, it would be fyrir öldruðum.

Question 3

Why is the adjective nýju used instead of the strong feminine accusative form nýja?

Accepted Answer

The noun it modifies, herferðina (the campaign), has the definite article attached. Whenever an adjective modifies a definite noun, you must use the weak declension. The weak feminine accusative singular form of nýr is nýju.

Question 4

The noun neytandi (consumer) ends in -andi. Does this ending have a specific function?

Accepted Answer

Yes, words ending in -andi are derived from present participles and act as "actor" or "doer" nouns, much like the "-er" suffix in English. Að neyta means "to consume", so a neytandi is a consumer. These are always weak masculine nouns and share a specific, mostly uniform declension pattern.

Neytandinn ætlar að skoða nýju herferðina fyrir aldraða.

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