Questions & Answers about Auðvitað fáum við kaffið.
The lesson is about vowel changes in strong verbs. Why doesn't fáum have a changed vowel?
Fáum is the plural "we" form (við fáum). Strong verbs like fá (to get) only change their stem vowel in the singular forms (I, you, he/she/it). If this were singular, you'd see the vowel change to æ, like in ég fæ (I get) or hún fær (she gets). Plural forms keep the original á.
Why is the verb fáum placed before the subject við?
This is due to the V2 (verb-second) rule. In Icelandic, the main verb almost always takes the second position in a statement. Because this sentence starts with the adverb Auðvitað (Of course), the verb fáum takes the second slot, and the subject við gets pushed to the third spot.
How do we know kaffið means "the coffee" and not just "coffee"?
Icelandic doesn't use a separate word for "the". Instead, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun as a suffix. Kaffi is a neuter noun, and adding the suffix -ð gives us kaffið (the coffee).
What case is kaffið in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb (it is the thing being gotten). However, you don't see a change in the spelling because for neuter nouns like kaffi, the accusative form looks exactly the same as the basic nominative form.
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