Introduction to Case Steering

By now, you should be fairly comfortable with the idea of subjects and objects. Whether a noun is a subject or an object and what verb it is effected by is a large part of deciding what case a noun needs to be.

Subject

When a noun is acting as a subject in Icelandic, it overwhelmingly needs to be in the nominative case. This is a basic rule that is only broken in specific circumstances.

Example 1: Hann borðar.
Exmaple 2: Hún borðar.
Example 3: Það borðar.

Objects

When a noun is acting as an object, it overwhelmingly needs to be in a case other than nominative: either accusative, dative, or genitive. These cases together are called the additional cases.

There are two types of objects: direct objects and direct objects.

Direct Objects

Direct objects are objects that directly receive the action of the verb.

Example: Ég baka honum köku. - (I bake him a cake. )

In the above sentence, the word köku is the direct object becuase it is directly receiving the action of the sentence's verb, að baka. It is the thing being baked.

What case a direct object needs to be in is determined by the verb that it is the object of. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to know which case a verb steers as its object. As a default rule, most verbs steer the accusative case, but there are many exmples of verbs steering the dative case as their objects as well, and a few steer genitive as well.

Typically, in a dictionary or wordlist, the direct object that the verb steers is denoted after the verb in parenthesis.

Example: bak/a (acc)

Indirect Objects

Direct objects are objects that are affected by the action, but they are not the direct object. Typically, direct objects are recipients.

Example: Ég baka honum köku. - (I bake him a cake. )

In the above sentence, the word honum is the indirect object. It is not directly receiving the action of the sentence's verb, að baka, but it is still being affected by the action in some way. Here, it is the person who is receiving the cake.

Similarly to direct objects, what case an indirect object needs to be in is determined by the verb it is an object of. Luckily, there is a very strong general rule that indirect objects need to be in the dative case, but there are exceptions.

Typically, dictionaries and wordlists will not denote what case an indirect object needs to be in unless it is not the dative case. When this is done, however, the indirect object is denoted in parenthesis after the verb, but before the direct object.

Example 1: bak/a (acc)
Example 2: spry/ja (acc) (gen)

No Objects

Don't make the mistake of thinking that all verbs need an object all the time! Only transitive verbs want objects. that is what makes them transitive. There are many verbs that never want any objects, known as non-transitive verbs.

Example 1: að sofa - (to sleep)
Example 2: að deyja - (to die)

The two verbs above contemplate a complete though on their own without any object necessary. They are intransitive verbs.

Multiple Cases

Some verbs can accept two cases for their direct objects. When this happens, it is not because either case can serve the same meaning rather, but it is because the difference in case changes the verb's meaning.

Example 1: tak/a (acc) - (take, like with a hand)
Example 2: tak/a (dat) - (take, like receive a suggestion)

Now I Know:

• the difference between a subjct and an object
• what case steering is
• what cases subjects and objects are typically on
• how verbs control the case of their objects