Breakdown of Afi hlustar sjaldan á útvarpið.
hlusta
to listen
afinn
the grandfather
sjaldan
rarely
á
to/at (with verbs of perception: hlusta á, horfa á)
útvarpið
the radio
Questions & Answers about Afi hlustar sjaldan á útvarpið.
Why does sjaldan come after the verb hlustar instead of before it?
In Icelandic main clauses, adverbs of frequency like sjaldan (rarely), alltaf (always), and oft (often) are placed immediately after the conjugated verb. This is a strict rule that differs from English, where we usually put the adverb first and say 'rarely listens'.
Why use the preposition á? Doesn't that mean 'on'?
While á often means 'on', the verb hlusta (to listen) always pairs with á to mean 'listen to'. It's a set phrase, so you will always see hlusta á together.
What case is útvarpið in here?
It is in the accusative case. The phrase hlusta á always forces the following noun into the accusative. Because útvarp is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form, and we just add the accusative definite article -ið to make it 'the radio'.
Why doesn't Afi have a definite article attached to it?
When talking about your own close relatives, Icelandic treats words like afi (grandfather) or mamma (mom) like proper names. Just like in English you say 'Grandpa' instead of 'The grandpa', you don't add the definite article here.
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