Breakdown of Við hittumst þegar ég var tuttugu ára.
vera
to be
ég
I
við
we
hittast
to meet each other
tuttugu
twenty
þegar
when
ára
years old
Questions & Answers about Við hittumst þegar ég var tuttugu ára.
Why is the word for years ára instead of just ár?
Why does the verb hittumst end in -st?
The standard verb is hitta (to meet someone). The -st ending turns it into a reciprocal verb, meaning the action happens between two or more people. In the past tense with við (we), it becomes hittumst (we met each other).
I learned that 'when' is hvenær. Why is þegar used here?
You use hvenær when you are asking a direct question, like 'When did you meet?'. But when you are stating that something happened at a certain time, connecting two parts of a sentence like 'We met when I was twenty', you must use the joining word þegar.
Does the number tuttugu need to change to match the case of ára?
No. In Icelandic, only the numbers 1 through 4 change their endings to match gender and case. Because tuttugu (twenty) is higher than four, it does not change its form at all.
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