Breakdown of Hafa þeir oft keppt saman?
saman
together / on end (after a dative plural time noun)
þeir
they (m)
oft
often
hafa
to have
Questions & Answers about Hafa þeir oft keppt saman?
How do we get the form keppt from the verb keppa?
Keppa is a Group 2 weak verb. To form the supine (the form used after hafa), we take the verb stem kepp- and add -t. Unlike Group 1 verbs that end in -að, Group 2 verbs just take -t, giving us keppt.
Why does the adverb oft come before keppt?
In Icelandic questions that have a helping verb (hafa) and a main verb (keppt), short adverbs like oft (often) usually go right after the subject (þeir) and before the main verb.
The sentence uses þeir for "they". Does this tell us anything about the competitors?
What role does saman play here?
Saman is an adverb meaning "together". Just like in English, it follows the main verb to describe how the action was done. It is very common to see it after verbs involving mutual actions, like keppa saman (compete together) or vinna saman (work together).