Breakdown of Ætlar þú að vera í þessum slitna og gamaldags frakka?
vera
to be
og
and
þú
you
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
ætla
to intend
frakkinn
the coat (m)
þessi
this (m/f)
slitinn
worn out
gamaldags
old-fashioned
Questions & Answers about Ætlar þú að vera í þessum slitna og gamaldags frakka?
Why does the sentence use vera í to mean "wear"?
In Icelandic, the most common way to express that you are wearing an item of clothing is the phrase vera í (literally "to be in") followed by the dative case. While the verb klæðast also means "to wear", it usually sounds much more formal or literary.
Why is the adjective slitinn (worn-out) written as slitna here?
Because it follows the demonstrative pronoun þessum (this), the adjective must use the weak declension. For a masculine dative singular adjective, the weak ending is -a. Notice that the stem of slitinn drops its second "i" before adding the ending, becoming slitna.
Does the adjective gamaldags (old-fashioned) change its ending to match the dative case of frakka?
No, gamaldags is an indeclinable adjective. Because it originally formed from a genitive phrase (literally meaning "of the old day"), its form is completely frozen. It will always look exactly the same, no matter the gender, number, or case of the noun it describes.
Why is the noun frakki (coat) conjugated as frakka in this sentence?
The preposition í governs the dative case when it describes a stationary position or state of being (as opposed to movement). Since wearing the coat is treated as "being inside" it, the phrase vera í triggers the dative case, changing the weak masculine noun frakki into frakka.
If I wanted to practice this lesson's target phrase and add hvort eð er (anyway) to this sentence, where would it go?
It would typically go at the very end of the sentence: Ætlar þú að vera í þessum slitna og gamaldags frakka hvort eð er? (Are you going to wear this worn-out and old-fashioned coat anyway?). As an invariable discourse marker, hvort eð er is quite flexible but most naturally anchors to the end of a question or clause like this.
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