Breakdown of Eftir fjallgönguna tókum við búnaðinn og komum í skálann.
og
and
við
we
koma
to come
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
taka
to take
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
fjallgangan
the mountain hike
búnaðurinn
the equipment
skálinn
the cabin
Questions & Answers about Eftir fjallgönguna tókum við búnaðinn og komum í skálann.
How do we form the plural past tense for the strong verbs taka and koma here?
For strong verbs, the plural past tense forms are built from a specific stem (the third "principal part" of the verb) rather than just copying the singular past tense. For taka (to take), the plural past stem is tók-, and for koma (to come), it is kom-. Because the subject is við (we), we attach the standard first-person plural ending -um to those stems, giving us tókum and komum.
Why does the verb tókum come before the subject við?
This is a great reminder of the V2 (verb-second) rule! The sentence begins with the time phrase Eftir fjallgönguna (After the mountain hike). Since that entire phrase occupies the first "slot" in the sentence, the verb tókum must immediately follow it in the second slot. The subject við is therefore pushed back into the third slot.
Why is the word for equipment búnaðinn?
The base word is búnaður, a masculine noun meaning "equipment". Here, it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb taka (to take), so it must change to the accusative case, which drops the -ur to become búnað. When we add the accusative masculine "the" suffix, it becomes búnaðinn.
Why does it say í skálann instead of í skálanum?
The preposition í takes the accusative case when it describes movement towards a destination (coming into the cabin). Skálann is the accusative form of the masculine noun skáli (cabin) with the definite article attached. If we were already resting inside the cabin with no movement, we would use the dative case instead (í skálanum).
Why does the preposition eftir cause fjallgönguna to be in the accusative case?
The preposition eftir can govern different cases depending on what it means. When eftir refers to "after" in time (like "after the hike"), it takes the accusative case. The feminine noun fjallganga (mountain hike) becomes fjallgöngu in the accusative, and adding the "the" suffix makes it fjallgönguna. (If eftir meant "along a physical path", it would take the dative case instead!)
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