# Icelandic: Ég er að leita mér að kennara!!!



## Alxmrphi

I saw this on a very old Icelandic forum:

*Ég er að leita mér að kennara!!! 

*My question is:

"mér" here is "to me/me", right?
Is "kennara" in the dative to match "mér", and is this needed because it follows að leita? 

Kennari comes up in the dictionary as a noun and I can't work out why there is a form of "ég" before it, unless the dictionary misses out that að kennara is a verb that means "to teach", does it?

Ah I am so confused.


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## modus.irrealis

Well this dictionary entry has as one of the uses of _leita_:

leita að e-m - look for

and the site says that e-m stands for "somebody" in the dative case, so it seems to me that _kennara_ is from _kennari_ and is in the dative case because that's what the phrase _leita að_ requires.

_er_ here is probably the first person singular of _vera_, so I think the _ég_ is there because it's _ég er_ = "I am".

The dictionary says _mér_ is the dative of _ég_ so it does mean "to me/me" but I would bet that the dative in Icelandic (like in most Indo-European languages) can also mean "for me" and that might be what it means here.

So it probably means something like "I am looking for a teacher for myself."

Does that help any?


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## butra

modus.irrealis is right in every detail.


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## Alxmrphi

Ok, so:

I am looking for my dog = Ég er að leita að hundurinn minn
I am looking for a dog for me = Ég er að leita mér að hundur

Just checking I understood what modus.irrealis said!


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## butra

I am looking for my dog = Ég er að leita að hundinum mínum (or mínum hundi) depends on the context.
I am looking for a dog for me = Ég er að leita mér að hundi.

Að is a preposition that takes the dative case.


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## Alxmrphi

Ahh, always forgetting the need to decline sometimes, will bear that in mind!
Thanks butra! (again!)


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## modus.irrealis

I'm glad I was right, although it took me a while to find what the _vera að _+ infinitive construction meant. But I was wondering if the _mér_ feels as superfluous in the Icelandic as it does in English because it would be more natural for me to say "I'm looking for a teacher" and not explicitly state that it's for me that I'm looking?


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## butra

Mér is not superfluous. It tells us that you are looking for a dog to keep 
but not just searching for a lost dog (your own dog or somebody else’s dog). 
In the teacher’s case you are looking for someone to teach you something 
but you are not searching for some teacher lost in the woods.


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## polyglot_wannabe

"Leita" is here used in the reflexive form "leita mér". This usage "leita mér að kennara" is certainly common (try searching on google for "leita mér" or "leita sér"). However, my gut feeling tells me (and a bit of research) that this is an incorrect usage. I would suggest the phrase "Ég er að leita að kennara" instead. 

I shall research this a bit more if I have time.

However, the form "leita <someone in dative> lækninga" = "get medical help for someone" would be correct usage. Thus "ég ætla að leita mér lækninga" and "konan hans var veik, hann leitaði henni lækninga" would both be correct.


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## jonquiliser

Something I wondered, is this "að" an infinitive marker, or a preposition, or both?


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## polyglot_wannabe

The first "að" (að leita) is an infinitive marker, not the second (að kennara). That one corresponds to "for" in English (searching for a teacher).


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## jonquiliser

Aha, thank you polyglot! (And welcome to the forum )


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## polyglot_wannabe

Thanks, you're welcome.


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## Hspo

Hæ!
I'm getting confused about the case following "að leita". I have read the preceding posts and see that the dative is required after "að", however here: Icelandic Online: Dictionary Entry for leita
I see this: 
"leit/a v * (gen) * ( -aði)", and 
"1. search, look for, seek
~~ að e-*m*, ~~ e-s look for sth
~~ lækni*s* consult a doctor...
In conclusion, if the verb "leita" is followed by "að" (to look for"), I use the dative, but if "leita" is followed by the object, I use the genitive?
Thank you.


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## Alxmrphi

Hspo said:


> In conclusion, if the verb "leita" is followed by "að" (to look for"), I use the dative, but if "leita" is followed by the object, I use the genitive?


Exactly.

Ég er að leita hunds
Ég er að leita að hundi
= I am looking for a dog

_Hunds _in the first sentence is in the genitive, because _leita_ takes the genitive case.
However, using the largely equivalent _leita að _expression (more colloquial) then this blocks the original genitive and then it's just business as usual with the normal dative _að _as happens everywhere else in the language.

When a verb requires the genitive, there is usually an alternative (possibly more colloquial) version you can use.
Another verb like this is bíða (to wait for). 

Ég bíð manns
Ég bíð eftir manni
= I am waiting for a man

The alternative _bíða eftir_ requires dative case, but if _eftir_ wasn't there requiring the dative, it would be the original genitive.


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## Hspo

Takk fyrir Alxmrphi!


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