Breakdown of Maturinn sem viðskiptavinurinn er að kvarta yfir er kaldur.
vera
to be
maturinn
the food
að
to (infinitive marker)
kaldur
cold
yfir
past / over, across
sem
who / which / that
viðskiptavinurinn
the customer
kvarta
to complain
Questions & Answers about Maturinn sem viðskiptavinurinn er að kvarta yfir er kaldur.
Why is yfir placed right before er kaldur instead of at the beginning of the relative clause?
This is an example of preposition stranding. Just like in English, when an Icelandic relative clause involves a preposition (like complaining 'about' something), the preposition gets stranded at the end of that specific clause. The relative clause here is sem viðskiptavinurinn er að kvarta yfir, so yfir sits at the very end of it, right before the main sentence resumes with er kaldur.
I thought the word for 'about' was usually um. Why does this sentence use yfir?
In Icelandic, the preposition you use often depends entirely on the verb it pairs with. The verb kvarta (to complain) naturally takes the preposition yfir rather than um. It can help to imagine the customer complaining 'over' the food.
Why use er að kvarta instead of just the present tense kvartar?
The phrase er að kvarta is the present continuous form, which shows that the action is happening right now. If we used the simple present kvartar, it would imply that the customer generally or habitually complains about the food, rather than complaining about this specific cold meal at this exact moment.
Viðskiptavinurinn is a very long word! How is it built?
It is a compound word that literally translates to 'the business friend'. It is made by combining viðskipti (business or trade) and vinur (friend). Finally, the definite article suffix -inn is added to the end to make it 'the customer' instead of just 'a customer'.
Why does the sentence end with kaldur instead of the dictionary form kalt?
Adjectives in Icelandic must always agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. The adjective here describes maturinn (the food), which is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case. Because of this, the adjective must take the masculine singular nominative form, which is kaldur.
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