Stringing facts together with og "and" gets you only so far. To build an argument — to add a point, enumerate your reasons, or balance two sides — Icelandic uses a set of additive and listing markers that signal exactly how the next piece relates to what came before. Most of them are adverbs, and because Icelandic is a verb-second (V2) language, fronting an adverb throws the finite verb ahead of the subject. This is the mechanical error English speakers make over and over: in English "In addition, it is cheap" keeps the subject first, but in Icelandic Auk þess *er það ódýrt inverts. This page covers the everyday additive markers, the enumeration frames, and the balanced *annars vegar … hins vegar device — with the V2 inversion flagged throughout. (Contrast markers like hins vegar on its own and samt live on the contrast and concession page; causal markers have their own page. Here we stay with addition and listing.)
einnig and líka — 'also, too'
The two basic "also" words are líka and einnig. They mean the same thing but differ in register: líka is the everyday, conversational "also / too," while einnig is its more formal, written-register equivalent (news, essays, official prose). Líka tends to sit inside the clause (often after the verb or near the element it adds to); einnig can sit mid-clause or be fronted.
Ég ætla að bjóða Önnu, og Jóni líka.
I'm going to invite Anna, and Jón too. (líka — everyday register, end position)
Hann talar þýsku og einnig dálitla frönsku.
He speaks German and also a little French. (einnig — slightly more formal)
Skýrslan fjallar einnig um umhverfisáhrif verkefnisins.
The report also addresses the project's environmental impact. (einnig — written/formal register)
auk þess and þar að auki — 'in addition / moreover'
To add a whole new point (not just "X too"), Icelandic uses auk þess "in addition / besides" and the more emphatic þar að auki "moreover / on top of that." Both are sentence adverbs, and both invert the verb when fronted — this is the V2 fact to internalise.
Íbúðin er á góðum stað. Auk þess er hún ótrúlega ódýr.
The flat is in a good location. In addition, it's incredibly cheap. (fronted auk þess → 'er' before 'hún')
Hann mætti of seint. Þar að auki gleymdi hann skýrslunni.
He arrived late. On top of that, he forgot the report. (fronted þar að auki → 'gleymdi' before 'hann')
Þetta er hollt og þar að auki bragðast það vel.
This is healthy and, on top of that, it tastes good. (þar að auki fronts the clause → 'bragðast það')
Read the inversion carefully: Auk þess *er hún ódýr, not *Auk þess hún er ódýr. The fronted adverbial fills the first slot, so the verb must come second, before the subject. English never does this, which is exactly why it's the standard slip.
í fyrsta lagi, í öðru lagi, í þriðja lagi — enumerating points
To lay out reasons or points in order, Icelandic uses the ordinal frame í fyrsta lagi "firstly / in the first place," í öðru lagi "secondly," í þriðja lagi "thirdly," and so on (the ordinals decline inside the fixed phrase). These are fronted adverbials, so — predictably — each inverts the following verb.
Ég er ósammála, og það af tveimur ástæðum. Í fyrsta lagi er þetta of dýrt.
I disagree, for two reasons. Firstly, this is too expensive. (í fyrsta lagi → 'er þetta', inverted)
Í öðru lagi höfum við ekki tíma fyrir þetta núna.
Secondly, we don't have time for this right now. (í öðru lagi → 'höfum við', inverted)
Í þriðja lagi treysti ég ekki þessum tölum.
Thirdly, I don't trust these figures. (í þriðja lagi → 'treysti ég', inverted)
This frame is the natural scaffolding for any structured explanation, and it's a clear register cue: it makes speech or writing sound organised and deliberate. (For the ordinals themselves and how they decline, see ordinals in use.)
annars vegar … hins vegar — 'on the one hand … on the other'
The most powerful — and most register-marked — listing device is the two-handed frame annars vegar … hins vegar "on the one hand … on the other hand." It sets up two sides of a matter in deliberate balance. This is a written / argumentative device (essays, opinion pieces, formal discussion), distinctly more elevated than a plain og. Both halves are fronted adverbials, so both invert.
Annars vegar viljum við vöxt, en hins vegar megum við ekki fórna náttúrunni.
On the one hand we want growth, but on the other we mustn't sacrifice nature. (both halves invert: 'viljum við' … 'megum við')
Málið hefur tvær hliðar: annars vegar kostnaðinn og hins vegar ávinninginn.
The matter has two sides: on the one hand the cost, on the other the benefit. (balancing two noun phrases)
að lokum and loks — 'finally / lastly'
To close an enumeration, að lokum "finally / lastly" and loks / loksins "finally, at last" round things off. Að lokum is the neutral "lastly" that caps a list; loksins leans toward "at long last" (relief that something finally happened). Both front and invert.
Að lokum vil ég þakka öllum sem komu.
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who came. (að lokum → 'vil ég', inverted — closing a list)
Loksins kom strætó eftir hálftíma bið.
The bus finally came after half an hour's wait. (loksins → 'kom strætó' — 'at long last')
Common Mistakes
❌ Auk þess það er ódýrt.
No inversion — a fronted additive adverb triggers V2: the verb comes before the subject.
✅ Auk þess er það ódýrt.
In addition, it's cheap.
Front auk þess and the verb must be second: er það, not það er. This V2 inversion is the commonest error with all the markers on this page.
❌ Í fyrsta lagi þetta er of dýrt.
No inversion after the fronted enumerator — it must be 'er þetta'.
✅ Í fyrsta lagi er þetta of dýrt.
Firstly, this is too expensive.
í fyrsta lagi (and í öðru / þriðja lagi) are fronted adverbials; the verb inverts to second position.
❌ Ég líka vil koma með.
Misplaced líka — it doesn't sit between subject and verb like English 'also'; put it after the verb.
✅ Ég vil líka koma með.
I want to come too.
líka attaches near the element it adds, typically after the finite verb — not wedged between subject and verb the way English "also" can be.
❌ Þetta er ódýrt og einnig það er fallegt.
Over-stacked — once you front einnig you still need V2, and here a simple 'líka' or restructuring reads better.
✅ Þetta er ódýrt og auk þess er það fallegt.
This is cheap and, in addition, it's pretty.
To add a whole new clause, use auk þess (with inversion) rather than fronting einnig onto a full clause with English word order.
❌ Á annan veg viljum við vöxt, á hinn veg viljum við vernda náttúruna.
Wrong frame — the fixed balanced device is annars vegar … hins vegar, not a literal 'one way … other way'.
✅ Annars vegar viljum við vöxt, hins vegar viljum við vernda náttúruna.
On the one hand we want growth, on the other we want to protect nature.
The two-handed device is the fixed pair annars vegar … hins vegar; don't construct it word-by-word from "way."
Key Takeaways
- Also: líka (everyday) vs einnig (formal/written) — same meaning, different register; líka sits close to what it adds.
- Adding a point: auk þess "in addition," þar að auki "moreover / on top of that" — fronting inverts the verb (V2).
- Enumerating: í fyrsta lagi / í öðru lagi / í þriðja lagi "firstly / secondly / thirdly," closed by að lokum / loks "finally" — all fronted, all invert.
- Balancing two sides: annars vegar … hins vegar "on the one hand … on the other" — a (formal / written) argumentative frame, both halves invert. Not a dressed-up "and."
- The recurring trap is missing V2: every fronted additive marker pushes the finite verb ahead of the subject, unlike English.
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- Contrast and Concession MarkersB1 — The Icelandic markers of contrast and concession — hins vegar, aftur á móti, samt (sem áður), engu að síður, þrátt fyrir — and especially the adverb þó 'however' versus the conjunction þó að 'although', a frequent confusion, with the inversion effects of fronting each.
- Discourse Markers: Structuring Talk and TextB1 — A map of the connectives that organise Icelandic above the sentence — additive (auk þess, einnig, líka), contrastive (hins vegar, samt), causal (þess vegna, því), sequencing (fyrst, síðan, að lokum), and reformulating (sem sagt) — and the central fact that most are adverbs, so fronting them triggers V2 verb-subject inversion.
- Reference, Cohesion, and the PrefieldC1 — How written Icelandic holds a text together: pronominal reference and the það-system, tracking referents with sá / þessi / hinn, the suffixed definite article as the marker of given information, and — the load-bearing device — the PREFIELD (the single slot before the verb) as a cohesion tool, where a writer continues a topic by fronting it and lets V2 do the rest. The insight: good Icelandic prose is a continuous exercise in deciding WHAT TO PUT FIRST, because the prefield is how the V2 grammar lets you thread one clause to the next.
- V2: The Verb-Second RuleA2 — The foundational rule of Icelandic main clauses — the finite verb is always the SECOND constituent, so fronting anything other than the subject forces verb-subject inversion (Í dag fer ég, Þetta veit ég ekki), unlike English which keeps the subject first.
- Ordinals in Dates, Sequences, and RoyaltyB1 — How Icelandic actually uses ordinals: in dates (þriðji mars, written 3. mars where the period hides a fully declined ordinal), floors (á þriðju hæð), sequence phrases (í fyrsta sinn 'for the first time'), and regnal numbers (Kristján tíundi 'Christian X'). The recurring trap is that a written '3.' or a regnal 'X' silently stands for a declined weak ordinal — þriðja, tíundi — that must agree with its context.