Breakdown of Þetta er fyrsti logandi bíllinn sem ég hafi stokkið yfir.
þetta
this
vera
to be
bíllinn
the car
ég
I
hafa
to have
yfir
past / over, across
fyrsti
first
stökkva
to jump
sem
who / which / that
logandi
burning
Questions & Answers about Þetta er fyrsti logandi bíllinn sem ég hafi stokkið yfir.
Why is hafi in the subjunctive instead of the indicative hef?
This ties directly into the current lesson! Because the main clause uses an extreme or unique descriptor—fyrsti (the first)—the relative clause following sem uses the subjunctive. You will see this subjunctive of subjective extremity after superlatives (like 'the best') or exclusive words like 'the only', 'the first', and 'the last'.
The word logandi (burning) acts as an adjective here. Does it need to decline to match bíllinn?
No, it does not. Words ending in -andi are present participles. When used as adjectives, they are indeclinable, meaning logandi stays exactly the same no matter the gender, number, or case of the noun it describes.
What form of the verb is stokkið, and why is it used here?
It is the supine form of the strong verb stökkva (to jump). Whenever you use the auxiliary verb hafa (here in the subjunctive as hafi) to form the perfect tense ('have jumped'), the main verb must be in the supine form.
The preposition yfir is left at the very end of the sentence. Is this typical in Icelandic?
Yes, very typical! Just like in English ('the car that I jumped over'), Icelandic frequently strands the preposition at the end of a relative clause when it pairs with the verb (here forming the phrase stökkva yfir). The preposition simply points back to the noun that sem represents (bíllinn).
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