Breakdown of Ég vil eignast hús og fjölskyldu.
húsið
the house
ég
I
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
fjölskyldan
the family
eignast
to come to have, to acquire (eignast barn)
Questions & Answers about Ég vil eignast hús og fjölskyldu.
Why does this sentence use eignast instead of eiga for 'to have'?
While eiga means to currently own or possess something, eignast is its middle-voice form and means 'to acquire', 'to get', or 'to come into possession of'. Because the speaker doesn't have a house and family yet but wants to get them in the future, eignast is the naturally correct choice.
Why is there no að before the infinitive verb eignast?
The verb vilja (to want) acts as a modal verb in Icelandic. Just like with 'geta' or 'skulu', it takes the bare infinitive directly without the particle að. Therefore, it is ég vil eignast, never ég vil að eignast.
What case are hús and fjölskyldu in here?
They are both in the accusative case because they are the direct objects of the verb eignast. The neuter noun hús looks exactly the same in the nominative and accusative, but the feminine noun fjölskylda changes its ending to an -u, becoming fjölskyldu.
Does fjölskyldu include extended family like cousins and grandparents?
In everyday Icelandic, fjölskylda mostly refers to your immediate, nuclear family. If you want to talk about your extended family or relatives as a broader group, you would typically use the word ættingjar instead.
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