Breakdown of Sjálfboðaliðinn veitir engum styrkinn.
enginn
no one / nobody / no (m/f)
sjálfboðaliðinn
the volunteer
veita
to grant
styrkurinn
the grant
Questions & Answers about Sjálfboðaliðinn veitir engum styrkinn.
Why is engum used here instead of enginn?
It is the dative case of the pronoun enginn (nobody or no one). The verb veita (to grant) requires the person receiving the action to be in the dative case. When referring to a general, unknown person, Icelandic defaults to the masculine form, so we use the masculine dative form engum.
Does the verb veita take two objects here?
Yes! Just like the English phrase to grant someone something, veita takes two objects. The recipient is in the dative case (engum), and the thing being granted is in the accusative case. Here, styrkur (a grant) becomes styrkinn (the grant) in the accusative with the definite article attached.
Sjálfboðaliðinn is a really long word. How is it built?
It is a compound word made of three parts: sjálf (self), boð (offer), and liði (member or person). Together, sjálfboðaliði means volunteer. The -nn at the end is the attached masculine definite article, making it the volunteer.
Do we need to add ekki (not) to make this sentence negative?
No, you do not need ekki. The pronoun engum already makes the sentence negative all by itself. Just like in English, saying grants to no one is already a negative statement, so adding ekki is unnecessary.
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