Heill Haukur!

My monitor died last week, so I haven't been able to get to the exercise until now. I haven't looked at the other responses yet, so here goes...

2. þar kømr mest fjölmenni hingat á Norðrlönd

kømr: strong verb, 3rd person, singular, present tense, indicative, active
Norðrlönd: strong noun, neuter, plural, accusative

3. Þorbjörn var auðigr maðr ok var þá gamall, er þetta var tíðenda.

tíðenda: strong noun, neuter, plural, genitive

4. gifti þar Ólöfu dóttur Þorsteins rauðs

Ólöfu: strong noun (proper name), feminine, singular, dative
dóttur: unique noun, feminine, singular, accusative
Þorsteins: strong noun (proper name), masculine, singular, genitive
rauðs: adjective, masculine, singular, genitive

5. Þar sat maðr fyrir ok fagnaði þeim vel ok spurði hvat þeir vildi kaupa.

þeim: pronoun, masculine, singular, dative
vildi: irregular verb, 3rd person, plural, past tense, subjunctive, active
kaupa: strong verb, infinitive

Question: Why do we have vildu kaupa in sentence 1 but vildi kaupa in sentence 5?

"Vildi kaupa" is in the subjunctive mood, which means that it is indicative of a hypothetical outcome. Hólmgeirr doesn't know what they want to buy, whereas, in sentence 1, the brothers have a definite wish, thus it is in the indicative mood.

Translation

A man is named Eyvindr - he lived in Norway.
Maðr er nefndr Eyvindr - hann byggði í Noregi.

His brother was called Gunnarr.
Gunnarr hét bróðir hans.

The brothers were both big and strong.
Þeir brœðr váru bæði mikill ok sterkr.

--
Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

"Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source." Ron Nesen