Advanced Clause Linking and Subordination

The basic subordinators — að, ef, þegar, því að — get you connected clauses. What distinguishes advanced Icelandic is which linker you choose when several are possible, and how mood fine-tunes the meaning of one and the same conjunction. This page covers the contrasts that matter at B2: result clauses (svo … að) versus purpose clauses (svo að + subjunctive), the two flavours of cause (þar sem "since/as" versus af því að "because"), concessive chains (þótt … samt), and the stacking of adverbial clauses. The headline insight is that the near-identical strings svo að and svo … að mean two different things, and the mood is what tells them apart. (For the inventory of subordinators see conjunctions/subordinating; for the subjunctive after conjunctions see verbs/subjunctive-conjunctions. This page is about choosing and contrasting.)

Purpose vs result: the mood disambiguates svo (…) að

This is the centrepiece. Icelandic uses svo and að for two different relations, distinguished by word order and mood:

• Purpose ("so that") — svo að
  • subjunctive.
  The two words sit together, and the clause states an intended, not-yet-realised goal. Because a goal is non-asserted, the verb is subjunctive.
• Result ("so … that") — svo … að
  • indicative.
  Here svo sits earlier, modifying an adjective or adverb in the main clause ("so cold", "so fast"), and að introduces the actual consequence that did happen. Because the consequence is a real fact, the verb is indicative.

Hold the two side by side. Purpose: svo að þú skiljir — you may or may not end up understanding; it is my aim. Result: svo hratt að ég *skildi ekki — my not understanding is a fact that followed. The words overlap almost completely; the *mood carries the entire difference between "in order that" and "with the result that". This is one of the most elegant places in Icelandic grammar where a single morphological choice resolves a real ambiguity.

A useful tell: if you can replace svo að with til þess að "in order that" (also + subjunctive), it is purpose; if you can paraphrase with "to such a degree that", it is result.

Two causes: þar sem (given) vs af því að (answering 'why')

Icelandic has two main causal connectors, and they are not interchangeable; they package the cause differently.

af því að "because" introduces a cause as new information — the direct answer to "why?". It typically follows the main clause, just where English puts "because", and it carries the informational weight of the sentence.

þar sem "since / as / given that" presents the cause as already known or taken for granted — shared background, not news. It is therefore most natural fronted, at the head of the sentence, setting the stage before the main clause. (The same þar sem also means "where" locatively; context separates the two.)

The difference is information structure, not truth. Þar sem þú ert hér… assumes we both already know you are here and builds on it; …af því að þú baðst mig delivers the reason as the point of the sentence. Swapping them is not ungrammatical, but it sounds off: fronting af því að to open a sentence, or using þar sem to answer a pointed "why did you come?", both clash with the connector's natural information role. Note too that because the fronted þar sem-clause fills the prefield, the main clause is V2 and inverts: Þar sem þú ert hér, *getum við byrjað*.

Concessive chains: þótt … samt

Concession can be marked twice for emphasis: the subordinate clause with þótt / þó að "although" (taking the subjunctive, since the concession is granted hypothetically), and the main clause reinforced with samt "still / nonetheless" or engu að síður "nevertheless". The pairing makes the contrast explicit — "although X, still Y".

The samt is optional but very idiomatic; leaving it out is fine, adding it sharpens the concessive force. Note the V2 inversion in the main clause after the fronted þótt-clause: …, *tókst það samt ekki, …, héldum við samt áfram. (Concessive conjunctions are also treated in *conjunctions/conditional-concessive.)

Stacking adverbial clauses

Advanced writing routinely stacks several adverbial clauses around one main clause — a time clause, a causal clause, a concessive clause — and the V2 system keeps it readable: whichever clause is fronted fills the prefield, so the main verb stands second; the others trail after the main clause. The trick for the learner is to front one subordinate clause and let the rest follow, rather than piling them all up front.

The principle is the one from the topological-field model: exactly one constituent occupies the prefield, and a fronted subordinate clause counts as that one constituent, forcing V2. Everything else lines up after the main clause in its natural slot.

Why this is hard for English speakers

English blurs most of these distinctions. It uses "so that" for both purpose and result with no mood difference ("so that you understand" / "so cold that the river froze"), so the purpose/result mood split has nothing to transfer and must be learned outright — the single most error-prone point on this page. English also has only a loose feel for "because" versus "since/as", and freely fronts "because", so learners front af því að where Icelandic wants the given-cause þar sem. And English does not invert after a fronted clause ("Since you're here, we can begin", subject first), so the V2 inversion that þar sem and þótt force in the Icelandic main clause is repeatedly missed. Train three reflexes: (1) mood decides purpose vs result in svo (…) að; (2) þar sem fronts a given cause, af því að answers "why"; (3) a fronted subordinate clause forces V2 in the main clause.

Common Mistakes

Using the subjunctive here wrongly turns a real consequence into an intended goal.

Fronting af því að to open the sentence clashes with its role as the "why"-answer; þar sem is the given-cause connector, and the main clause must invert.

Key Takeaways

• Purpose vs result in svo (…) að is settled by mood: svo að
  • subjunctive = purpose ("so that you understand"); svo … að
    • indicative = result ("so fast that I didn't understand"). In the result reading, svo modifies an adjective/adverb; til þess að
      • subjunctive is a purpose paraphrase.
• Two causes: af því að "because" delivers the cause as news, answers "why?", and follows; þar sem "since/as" presents a given cause, sets the scene, and fronts.
• Concessive chains pair þótt / þó að
  • subjunctive with reinforcing samt / engu að síður "still / nevertheless" in the main clause.
• A fronted subordinate clause (time, cause, concession) fills the prefield, so the main clause is V2 and inverts: Þar sem…, getum við; Þótt…, tókst það.
• English transfers almost none of this — it merges purpose/result, blurs the two causes, and never inverts after a fronted clause — so all three must be learned explicitly.