Breakdown of Kennarinn á að undirbúa prófið.
kennarinn
the teacher
að
to (infinitive marker)
eiga að
to be supposed to
undirbúa
to prepare
prófið
the exam
Questions & Answers about Kennarinn á að undirbúa prófið.
I thought eiga meant "to own". Why does it mean "is supposed to" here?
You are right! On its own, eiga usually means "to own". But when you pair it with að and another verb in the infinitive (like undirbúa), the phrase eiga að means "to have to", "ought to", or "is supposed to". It is one of the most common ways to express an obligation in Icelandic.
Why do we need the word að before the verb undirbúa?
In Icelandic, some helper verbs like vilja (to want) and munu (will) connect directly to the next verb without að. However, eiga requires the infinitive marker að to connect to the next verb. So you must say á að undirbúa, not just á undirbúa.
The verb undirbúa looks like a combination of two words. Is it?
Yes! It is a compound of undir (under) and búa (to live, make, or prepare). Together, undirbúa means "to prepare" or "to make ready". You will see búa used as the base in many different compound verbs.
What grammatical case is prófið in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb undirbúa (prepare). The base word is próf (exam), which is a neuter noun. Because neuter words never change their form between the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases, the definite form prófið (the exam) looks exactly the same in both.
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