Breakdown of Stóllinn er framleiddur í verksmiðjunni.
vera
to be
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
stóllinn
the chair
framleiða
to manufacture
verksmiðjan
the factory
Questions & Answers about Stóllinn er framleiddur í verksmiðjunni.
Why is it framleiddur and not just framleitt?
In Icelandic, when forming the passive voice with vera (to be), the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender and number. Since stóllinn (the chair) is a masculine noun in the nominative singular, the past participle takes the masculine nominative singular ending -ur.
Does er framleiddur mean the chair is being made right now?
Not necessarily. Using vera (to be) with a past participle creates a static passive, which describes a state or a general fact. It translates best as "is made in" rather than the ongoing action of "is currently being built". To express an action happening right now (a dynamic passive), Icelandic often uses the verb verða instead of vera.
Why does í cause verksmiðjunni to be in the dative case here?
The preposition í can take either the accusative or the dative case. It takes the dative when it describes a static location (where something is or where an event is located), and the accusative when it describes movement towards a destination. Since the general manufacturing happens entirely inside the factory, we use the dative case.
How is the word verksmiðjunni formed from the base word for factory?
The base word is verksmiðja (factory), which is a feminine noun. In the dative case, the ending changes to verksmiðju. To say "the factory", we add the feminine dative singular definite article -nni, giving us verksmiðjunni.
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