Breakdown of Sama hvenær ég slekk á ljósinu, hún er andvaka.
vera
to be
ég
I
hún
she
hvenær
when
ljósið
the light
slökkva á
to turn off
sama
the same / matters not
andvaka
sleepless (lying awake)
Questions & Answers about Sama hvenær ég slekk á ljósinu, hún er andvaka.
How does sama hvenær work in this sentence, and does sama change its endings?
The phrase sama hvenær translates to 'no matter when'. In this specific grammar pattern, sama acts as an invariable word. This means it never changes its ending for gender, number, or case when it is paired with a question word like hvenær, hvað, or hvar.
Why is the main clause hún er andvaka instead of the inverted er hún andvaka? Doesn't the V2 rule apply?
Clauses starting with sama often act like parenthetical or introductory phrases rather than normal subordinate clauses. Because the sama hvenær clause doesn't firmly occupy the first position in the main sentence structure, the main clause can keep the standard subject-verb word order instead of triggering the verb-second inversion.
Why is ljósinu in the dative case?
It is governed by the preposition á in the phrasal verb slökkva á, which means 'to turn off'. While the preposition á can take either the accusative or dative case depending on the verb and whether there is movement, the fixed phrase slökkva á always requires its object to be in the dative case.
Does the adjective andvaka end in -a here because it is describing a female subject?
No, andvaka meaning 'sleepless' or 'awake' is an indeclinable adjective. Even though it looks like it has a feminine ending, it never changes its form. You use the exact same word whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or plural.
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