Breakdown of Ég sá stelpuna þegar hún fór í menntaskólann.
ég
I
hún
she
stelpan
the girl
fara
to go
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
sjá
to see
þegar
when
menntaskólinn
the high school
Questions & Answers about Ég sá stelpuna þegar hún fór í menntaskólann.
How does þegar affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
The word þegar (when) joins the two events. When it introduces this type of dependent clause, the word order right after it stays normal: the subject (hún) comes first, followed immediately by the verb (fór).
Why is the word for the girl written as stelpuna instead of stelpan?
The verb sjá (to see) requires the object you are seeing to be in the accusative case. Stelpan is the nominative (subject) form, while stelpuna is the accusative form of the girl.
Why does the preposition í use the accusative case for menntaskólann here?
The preposition í takes the accusative case when it describes movement or direction towards a destination (she went into or to the high school). If the sentence was about her already being a student at the school, í would take the dative case instead.
Both stelpuna and menntaskólann have extra letters at the end compared to their base dictionary forms. What are these?
These endings are attached definite articles, which act like the word the in English. Instead of a separate word for the, Icelandic attaches it directly to the end of the noun. Because both nouns are in the accusative case here, stelpa becomes stelpuna and menntaskóli becomes menntaskólann.
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