Word
Það kom fram á fundinum að fyrirtækið væri að tapa peningum.
Meaning
It emerged at the meeting that the company was losing money.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Það kom fram á fundinum að fyrirtækið væri að tapa peningum.
fundurinn
the meeting
peningurinn
the money
fyrirtækið
the company
tapa
to lose (a game) (+ Dative)
Questions & Answers about Það kom fram á fundinum að fyrirtækið væri að tapa peningum.
Why is kom fram translated as "emerged"?
The basic verb koma means "to come", but the phrasal verb koma fram often means "to emerge", "to come to light", or "to be stated". In the context of a meeting, it expresses that information was revealed or brought up.
Why is the verb væri in the subjunctive rather than the past indicative var?
The subjunctive væri is used here because this is reported speech (indirect discourse). The introductory phrase það kom fram að (it emerged that) signals that we are reporting information stated or claimed by someone else at the meeting, which triggers the subjunctive mood in Icelandic.
Why is the word for money, peningum, in the dative case here?
The verb tapa (to lose) requires its object to take the dative case. While "money" is a direct object in English, Icelandic grammar dictates that you "lose [dative]", making the plural noun peningar change to its dative plural form peningum.
How does Icelandic express the continuous "was losing" action in this sentence?
Icelandic uses the verb vera (to be) + að + an infinitive verb to show an ongoing action. Here, the sentence combines the past subjunctive væri with að tapa (to lose), giving us the continuous meaning "was losing".