Learn Icelandic: Hlustið á okkur og byrjið verkefnið! - Listen to us and start the assignment!

Hlustið á okkur og byrjið verkefnið!

Listen to us and start the assignment!

Breakdown of Hlustið á okkur og byrjið verkefnið!

onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)

Questions & Answers about Hlustið á okkur og byrjið verkefnið!

Both Hlustið and byrjið end in -ið. Is that how we make plural commands?

Yes! To tell a group of people to do something, you usually take the stem of the verb and add the suffix -ið. So hlusta (to listen) becomes Hlustið, and byrja (to start) becomes byrjið.

The word verkefnið also ends in -ið. Is that a command too?

No, it just looks similar! On a verb like byrjið, the -ið makes it a plural command. But on a neuter noun like verkefni (assignment), adding -ið simply adds the word "the" to the end, making it verkefnið (the assignment).

Why is the preposition á used here for "listen to"? Doesn't á usually mean "on"?

In Icelandic, the verb hlusta almost always teams up with the preposition á. While á can mean "on" in other situations, you just have to memorize that "to listen to" is always hlusta á in Icelandic.

Is okkur (us) in the accusative or dative case here?