Word
Grannavarslan er mikilvæg þar sem ýmislegt gerist hérna.
Meaning
The neighborhood watch is important since various things happen here.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Grannavarslan er mikilvæg þar sem ýmislegt gerist hérna.
vera
to be
mikilvægur
important
hérna
here (colloquial, pointing)
þar sem
since
Questions & Answers about Grannavarslan er mikilvæg þar sem ýmislegt gerist hérna.
The current lesson is about the active pro-verb gera það (to do so). Why does this sentence use gerist instead of a form of gera?
Gerist is the middle voice (-st form) of gera (to do/make). While the active gera means "to do", the middle voice gerast changes the meaning to "to happen" or "to occur". You can only use the lesson's target phrase gera það to replace an active verb phrase. Since "various things" are happening rather than actively doing something, the middle voice is required here.
How is the compound noun Grannavarslan put together?
It combines granni (neighbor) and varsla (watch or custody). In Icelandic compound words, the first noun often takes the genitive case, so granna is the genitive plural ("of the neighbors"). The -n at the very end is the attached feminine definite article, giving us "the neighborhood watch".
Doesn't þar sem literally translate to "there where"? Why is it translated as "since"?
While its literal, spatial meaning is indeed "there where", þar sem is also the standard conjunction used to mean "since" or "because" when introducing a cause. It functions somewhat like "since" in English, which originally related to time but is now commonly used for cause.
Why do we use the form ýmislegt here rather than just ýmis?