Ópersónulegar Sagnir (Vocabulary for 5/28/2002)


Nokkrar íslenskar sagnir taka þolfalt eða þágufalt efni, í staðinn fyrir nefnifölum efni. [Many mistakes, I'm sure]

Some Icelandic verbs take a subject in the accusative or dative case, rather than the nominative. Here is a list of some of those verbs.

Verbs that take the accusative:

dreyma - dream
langa í - want
vanta - need

Verbs that take the dative:

finnast - think, find
líða - feel
lítast á - like
sýnast - seem
þykja - think, find

So one would say, for example:

_Mig vantar_ kaffi.
'I need coffee.'

_Mér finnst_ gaman að lesa.
'I find reading fun.' --> 'I like to read.'

Or:

Í gærkvöld _mig dreymdi_, að einhver elskaði mig.
'Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me.'

[ Addition by Andrew Strader:
Don't forget "gruna":

Mig grunar að hún sé farin.
'I suspect that she is gone.' ]

Thanks to Ásta for her corrections and comments on my last posts. I'll be sure to always use "borða" when talking about people.

Jon

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