Breakdown of Kennarinn kallaði á nemandann.
kennarinn
the teacher
nemandinn
the student
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
kalla
to call
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn kallaði á nemandann.
How does kallaði show that it is in the past tense?
The dictionary form of the verb is kalla (to call). It belongs to the very common Group 1 of weak verbs. To make it past tense for a singular subject like kennarinn (the teacher), you take off the final -a and add -aði, giving us kallaði.
Doesn't the preposition á usually mean "on"? Why does it mean "to" here?
Yes, á most often means "on"! However, Icelandic verbs frequently pair with specific prepositions to create a set meaning. The phrase kalla á specifically translates to "to call to" or "to call out for" someone.
Why is the student called nemandann instead of nemandinn?
This happens because of the preposition á. When á points to a target you are interacting with, it forces the next word into the accusative (object) case. The masculine word nemandi (student) with "the" attached is nemandinn in the subject case, but changes to nemandann when it is the object.
How does the word kennarinn get its meaning of "the teacher"?
In Icelandic, "the" is usually attached to the end of the noun. The base word for "teacher" is kennari. Because it is a masculine word in the subject role, we add -nn to the end (since it already ends in a vowel) to get kennarinn (the teacher).
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