Breakdown of Ég fer inn á baðherbergið til að snyrta mig.
ég
I
fara
to go
að
to (infinitive marker)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
baðherbergið
the bathroom
til
to
inn
in (motion inwards)
snyrta sig
to groom oneself
Questions & Answers about Ég fer inn á baðherbergið til að snyrta mig.
Why does it say mig ("me") instead of a specific word for "myself"?
In Icelandic, there is no separate reflexive pronoun (like "myself" or "yourself") for the first and second person. You simply use the normal object pronoun, which is mig (me) in the accusative case, to show that the action reflects back to you. Third-person sentences, however, do use a special reflexive word (sig).
Does snyrta mig literally mean "freshen up"?
The verb snyrta means "to groom," "to tidy," or "to trim." So literally, snyrta mig means "groom myself" or "tidy myself up," which is the most natural way to say "freshen up" in Icelandic.
Why use inn á instead of just í (in) or inn í (into)?
In Icelandic, certain rooms and places take the preposition á (on/at) rather than í (in). The bathroom (baðherbergi) is a classic example! The word inn is added to show the physical motion of going inside from the outside, so inn á translates smoothly to "into" here.
Why is the word for "the bathroom" baðherbergið here instead of the dative form baðherberginu?
The preposition á triggers the accusative case when it describes motion toward a destination (like walking into the bathroom). Baðherbergið is the accusative form. If you were already doing something inside the bathroom (static position), it would take the dative form baðherberginu.
What does adding til before að snyrta do?
The phrase til að specifically means "in order to." While að alone often just links verbs together (like the English "to"), adding til emphasizes the purpose or goal of your action. You are going into the bathroom in order to freshen up.
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