When to use på/á?
Gotta make this comm more active!!
på means "location". temporal or physical, it doesn't matter:
on the table = physical
on monday; on second thought = temporal
in the box = physical
in an hour = temporal
in other words = non-physical
at the seashore; ashore = physical
at 4 o'clock; asleep = non-physical
walk to the store = physical
talk to him = non-physical
by the seashore = physical
by 6 o'clock = temporal
it was made by him = non-physical
på (á in icelandic and faroese) is the same, it shows a more general location, which usually translates to "on, at" (as we have other, separate ones for more specific locations, such as "in, by, under").
jag gick på toan = i walked location the toilet
= i walked to the toilet.
jag skrattar på honom = i laugh location him
= i laugh at him
det står på bordet = it stands location the table
= it's sitting on the table
when it comes to faroese and icelandic, the dative case shows this base location and the preposition merely clarifies which type of location it is. we say "location dog", and then we add in "at / in / on / under / beside" as clarification when necessary.
textbooks always say that prepositions "steer" or "govern" cases, but that's not true. the meaning of the sentence controls which case is used; the preposition is just further clarifying what's already there. at times they will skip the prepositions entirely, because again, it's not the preposition that's actually controlling everything.