Breakdown of Ég sé stórt skordýr yfir vaskinum.
ég
I
stór
big
sjá
to see
yfir
past / over, across
vaskurinn
the sink
skordýrið
the insect
Questions & Answers about Ég sé stórt skordýr yfir vaskinum.
Why does yfir take the dative case (vaskinum) in this sentence?
The preposition yfir (over/above) can take either the dative or the accusative case. Because the insect is just positioned above the sink and not moving across it to a new location, this is a static position. For static locations, yfir takes the dative case.
What if the insect was flying over the sink to the other side?
If there was movement from one place to another, yfir would take the accusative case instead to show direction. You would say yfir vaskinn (over the sink) rather than the dative yfir vaskinum.
Why is the adjective stórt (big) spelled with a -t at the end?
The word for insect, skordýr, is a neuter noun. The verb sjá (to see) forces the object being seen into the accusative case. For neuter nouns, the accusative case looks exactly like the dictionary form. However, the adjective must match the noun's gender and case, so the neuter accusative form of stór becomes stórt.
How do we get the form vaskinum from the dictionary word vaskur?
Vaskur (sink) is a masculine noun. In the dative case, it drops the -ur and becomes vaski. To say the sink, we add the dative masculine definite article ending -num, giving us vaskinum.
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