Breakdown of Af hverju vilt þú minnka streitu?
þú
you
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
af hverju
why
minnka
to reduce / to decrease (intransitive) / to reduce (something)
Questions & Answers about Af hverju vilt þú minnka streitu?
What does af hverju literally mean, and why is it used for 'why'?
Literally, af means 'of' or 'from' and hverju is a dative form of the question word for 'what'. So af hverju translates to 'from what' or 'for what reason'. This is the standard way to ask 'why' in Icelandic! The preposition af always forces the word following it into the dative case.
Why does the verb vilt come before the subject þú in this question?
Icelandic follows the V2 (verb-second) rule. This means the main verb is usually the second piece of information in a sentence. Since the question phrase Af hverju takes up the first position, the verb vilt must immediately follow it, pushing the subject þú to the third spot.
In English we say 'want TO reduce'. Why is there no að before minnka?
The verb vilja (to want) is a modal verb in Icelandic. Just like we say 'I will reduce' or 'I must reduce' in English without the word 'to', Icelandic modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb without using að.
Why does the word for stress end in a 'u' here (streitu instead of streita)?