blöskra

Icelandic

Verb

blöskra (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative blöskraði, supine blöskrað)

1. (third person only, quirky subject) to shock, to horrify [with preceding dative ‘experiencer’, along with following nominative or yfir (+ dative) ‘cause’] (idiomatically translated as “be shocked by” or “be horrified by”, with the dative object as the logical subject)

   Leikhúsgestunum blöskraði ofbeldið (~ yfir ofbeldinu) í leikritinu.

   The theater-goers were shocked by the violence in the play.

   Búðargestunum blöskruðu hin skyndilega hærri verð.

   The shoppers were outraged by the suddenly higher prices.

   Búðargestunum blöskraði yfir hinum skyndilega hærri verðum.

   The shoppers were outraged by the suddenly higher prices.

Usage notes

• The verb blöskra is a so-called strict dative-nominative verb, i.e. a verb where the logical subject, which precedes the verb, is in the dative case, and the logical object, which follows the verb, is in the nominative case. Such verbs must be in the third person, but the verb can optionally agree in number with the nominative object. As a result, it is not truly an impersonal verb, although often described as such in Icelandic grammars. At Wiktionary, we call these third-person-only verbs. Canonical examples are blöskra (“to be shocked by”), líka (“to like”), leiðast (“to be bored by”), þykja (“to think/find/seem”) and áskotnast (“to receive/obtain by luck, to luck into (something)”).
• Some such verbs, called alternating dative-nominative verbs, can use either the dative-nominative order or the standard nominative-dative order. Examples are nægja (“to suffice (for someone)”), duga (“to be enough (for someone)”), henta (“to suit (someone)”), endast (“to last (for someone)”) and gagnast (“to be of use (to someone)”). However, blöskra is not of this type.
• The restriction that the verb must be in the third person means that a first or second person pronoun cannot occupy the logical object position; instead, different verbs or constructions must be used.
• In Wiktionary, we first express the literal definition from the perspective of the nominative argument, and then add a note indicating how it is to be translated idiomatically.

Conjugation

blöskra – active voice (germynd)

infinitive nafnháttur		að blöskra
supine sagnbót		blöskrað
present participle lýsingarháttur nútíðar		blöskrandi
		indicative framsöguháttur			subjunctive viðtengingarháttur
		present nútíð	past þátíð		present nútíð	past þátíð
singular	ég	blöskra	blöskraði		blöskri	blöskraði
	þú	blöskrar	blöskraðir		blöskrir	blöskraðir
	hann, hún, það	blöskrar	blöskraði		blöskri	blöskraði
plural	við	blöskrum	blöskruðum		blöskrum	blöskruðum
	þið	blöskrið	blöskruðuð		blöskrið	blöskruðuð
	þeir, þær, þau	blöskra	blöskruðu		blöskri	blöskruðu
		imperative boðháttur
singular	þú	blöskra (þú), blöskraðu
plural	þið	blöskrið (þið), blöskriði1

¹ Spoken form, usually not written; in writing, the unappended plural form (optionally followed by the full pronoun) is preferred.

Further reading

• “blöskra” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)