Breakdown of Lögreglan vaktar hverfið vel.
vel
well
lögreglan
the police
hverfið
the neighborhood
vakta
to monitor
Questions & Answers about Lögreglan vaktar hverfið vel.
Since this lesson is about using "gera það" (to do so), how would I add "and the military does so too" to this sentence?
You would add og herinn gerir það líka. The pro-verb phrase gerir það (does it / does so) successfully replaces the entire active predicate vaktar hverfið vel so you don't have to repeat the verb phrase.
Why is the verb vaktar in the singular when "the police" is treated as plural in English?
In Icelandic, lögreglan is a feminine singular collective noun (think of it as "the police force"), so it must take a singular verb. If you want to talk about multiple individual officers, you would use the plural noun lögreglumennirnir or lögregluþjónarnir (the police officers), which would take the plural verb vakta.
Is the verb vakta related to the noun vakt (a shift or watch)?
Yes, they are directly related! The noun vakt means a watch, guard, or a work shift. The verb vakta means to monitor, guard, or watch over something. It governs the accusative case, which is why its direct object here is hverfið.
What is the base form of hverfið, and why does the ending look like that here?