Word
Hann gengur í vinnuna í stað þess að keyra.
Meaning
He walks to work instead of driving.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hann gengur í vinnuna í stað þess að keyra.
hann
he
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
ganga
to walk
keyra
to drive
Questions & Answers about Hann gengur í vinnuna í stað þess að keyra.
Why is vinnuna in the accusative case rather than the dative?
The preposition í governs the accusative case when it describes motion toward a destination, like walking to work. If he were already at work, í would govern the dative case, and you would say í vinnunni.
What is the literal breakdown of the phrase í stað þess að?
It literally translates to in place of it to. The phrase í stað (in place) takes the genitive case. Because the next part of the sentence is an infinitive verb rather than a noun, the dummy pronoun það (it) is inserted and put into the genitive case, becoming þess. The að is simply the infinitive marker for the verb keyra.
Could I drop þess and just say í stað að keyra?
No, that would be grammatically incorrect. Because í stað requires a genitive object, you must provide one. Since an infinitive verb like að keyra cannot take a case, you must use the pronoun þess to receive the genitive case on the verb's behalf.
Could I use the verb labba instead of ganga here?
Yes, in casual, spoken Icelandic, you will frequently hear Hann labbar í vinnuna. The verb ganga (which becomes gengur here) is slightly more formal but perfectly standard for everyday written and spoken language when talking about walking as a mode of transport.