Questions & Answers about Óhappið var skrýtið!
How does the verb var fit into what we are learning about strong verbs?
Var is the past tense of vera (to be) for "I", "he", "she", and "it". While vera is a highly irregular verb, its past tense behaves a lot like a strong verb: it changes its vowel to show the past tense instead of adding a standard ending like -ði, -di, or -ti.
The dictionary says the word for "strange" is skrýtinn. Why is it skrýtið here?
Adjectives in Icelandic must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because óhapp is a neuter noun, the adjective takes the neuter singular ending, changing from the default masculine form skrýtinn to the neuter form skrýtið.
Is the -ið at the end of óhappið doing the same job as the -ið at the end of skrýtið?
They look identical but do completely different jobs! In óhappið, the -ið is the attached word for "the" (the accident). In skrýtið, the -ið is just the neuter adjective ending to match the noun.
Does the prefix ó- in óhappið mean something specific?
Yes, the prefix ó- is a negative prefix, very similar to "un-" or "mis-" in English. The base word happ means "luck" or "good fortune", so an óhapp literally means "bad luck" or a "mishap/accident".
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