Breakdown of Strákurinn gengur á breiðum jökli.
strákurinn
the boy
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
ganga
to walk
breiður
wide
jökullinn
the glacier
Questions & Answers about Strákurinn gengur á breiðum jökli.
Why does the adjective "breiður" end in "-um" in this sentence?
The preposition á triggers the dative case here because it describes a location (where the boy is walking). The noun jökli (glacier) is masculine. Therefore, the adjective must take the strong masculine dative ending, which is -um, giving us breiðum.
Why do we use the strong adjective form "breiðum" instead of a weak form?
We use strong adjective endings when the noun is indefinite (there's no word for "the", "this", or "that" right before it). Because we are saying "on a wide glacier" rather than "on the wide glacier", the strong dative ending -um is required.
Why is the word for glacier "jökli" here instead of "jökull"?
Jökull is the dictionary form (nominative case). When it changes to the dative case, it drops the second u and one l to become jökli. This vowel-dropping (sometimes called syncope) happens often in masculine nouns ending in -ull, -ill, or -all.
If "á" means "on", does it always take the dative case?
Not always! The preposition á takes the dative case when describing an action happening within a place or a stationary location (like walking around on the glacier). If the boy were walking onto the glacier from somewhere else (showing movement to a new destination), á would trigger the accusative case instead.
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