Breakdown of Vinahópurinn minn hittist áðan.
hittast
to meet each other
minn
my (m, f, n: minn, mín, mitt)
áðan
earlier
vinahópurinn
the friend group
Questions & Answers about Vinahópurinn minn hittist áðan.
How does the -st ending change the meaning of the verb here?
The root verb is hitta (to meet someone). By adding the -st ending, it becomes the middle voice verb hittast. Middle voice verbs often show a reciprocal action, meaning people do it to each other. So hittast means to meet each other or to meet up.
Since this lesson is on the past tense, why doesn't hittist look like a past tense verb?
It actually is! For the verb hittast, the he/she/it form is hittist in both the present and the past tense. Because they look identical, we have to rely on context clues in the sentence to know it happened in the past.
What is the context clue that tells us this is in the past tense?
The word áðan means earlier or a little while ago. It is a great time marker because it almost always forces the verb into the past tense. You cannot use áðan for something happening right now or in the future.
Since a friend group is multiple people, why don't we use the 'they' form of the verb (hittust)?
Even though a group is made of many people, the noun vinahópur (friend group) is grammatically singular - it is just one single group. Therefore, the verb must take the 3rd person singular form (hittist) to match.
Why does it say vinahópurinn minn instead of just vinahópur minn?
In Icelandic, when you use a possessive word like minn (my) after a noun, the noun almost always takes the attached 'the' article. So it literally translates as 'the friend group my'. Because vinahópur is a masculine word, it takes the masculine article -inn.
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