Questions & Answers about Hún kom seint út af hálkunni.
Why does "út af" take the dative case here, and how did "hálka" change to "hálkunni"?
The preposition út af requires the noun following it to be in the dative case. The dictionary word for slippery ice is hálka (feminine). In the dative, it becomes hálku. To say "the ice", we add the feminine dative definite article suffix -nni, resulting in hálkunni.
Is "út af" the only way to say "because of"?
It is one of the most common ways in spoken Icelandic! You will also learn vegna (which takes the genitive case), but út af + dative is extremely natural for everyday speech, especially when talking about a specific thing causing an inconvenience.
Why is it "seint" instead of "seinn" for "late"?
We need an adverb here because it describes how she arrived (the verb kom), not a noun. In Icelandic, you often create an adverb by taking the neuter singular form of an adjective. The adjective seinn (late) becomes seint.
Why use "hálkunni" for ice instead of "ísnum"?
The word ís generally refers to ice cubes, glaciers, or ice cream. Hálka, on the other hand, specifically means slippery conditions, like slick ice on roads or sidewalks. Since winter weather is a big topic in Iceland, hálka is the exact right word for road ice!