Because Icelandic is a V2 language, a main clause needs something in its first slot before the verb. But sometimes there is nothing natural to put there — no subject worth mentioning, no topic to front. "It's raining" has no real "it" doing the raining; "there's a cat in the garden" has no real "there." For exactly these cases Icelandic uses það as a dummy — an empty placeholder whose only job is to occupy the first slot so the verb can sit second. Understanding það as "a filler for the empty first slot" is the key that unlocks every construction on this page, and it explains the one feature that surprises English speakers most: this það disappears the instant anything else takes first position.
það as a pure placeholder
The word það is doing double duty in Icelandic, and you must keep the two uses apart. As a referential pronoun it means "it / that" and points to something (Ég sé það — "I see it"). As an expletive it means nothing at all — it is just a body in the first slot. The expletive það is the one this page is about. It has no referent; it carries no information; remove it and the sentence is still complete in meaning — it just needs something in front of the verb, and það volunteers.
Það rignir.
It's raining. (það is a dummy — nothing actually 'rains')
Það snjóar úti.
It's snowing outside. (expletive það fills the first slot)
In Það rignir, there is no entity called það that rains. The verb rignir is impersonal; the það is there purely to give the V2 rule a first constituent.
Three jobs of the dummy það
The expletive það shows up in three closely related constructions. In every one, það leads, the verb comes second (V2), and the real content follows.
1. Weather and impersonal verbs
Verbs of weather and natural events take no logical subject, so það fills in.
Það er kalt í dag.
It's cold today. (impersonal — það is a placeholder)
Það var mikið að gera í vinnunni.
There was a lot to do at work. (impersonal idiom)
2. Existentials: "there is / there are"
To say something exists somewhere, Icelandic uses það + vera + an indefinite noun. This is the equivalent of English "there is / there are."
Það er köttur í garðinum.
There's a cat in the garden. (existential — það + er + indefinite köttur)
Það er enginn heima.
There's nobody home. (existential með enginn)
3. Presentationals: bringing a new participant on stage
Closely related, the presentational construction introduces a brand-new participant into the discourse with það + verb + an indefinite subject. It is how you stage someone or something the listener hasn't heard of yet.
Það kom maður.
A man came. (presentational — það + verb + indefinite subject)
Það komu þrír gestir í gær.
Three guests came yesterday. (presentational — verb komu agrees with gestir)
Look closely at that last example: the verb is komu (plural), not kom (singular). That is the rule worth circling.
The verb agrees with the REAL subject, not with það
Here is the point that trips up English speakers, because English "there" behaves differently. The dummy það is grammatically neuter singular, but the verb does not agree with það. It agrees with the logical subject — the real noun that follows. So when that noun is plural, the verb is plural, even though the sentence begins with singular-looking það.
| Sentence | Logical subject | Verb |
|---|---|---|
| Það er maður úti. | maður (sg.) | er (sg.) |
| Það eru margir hér. | margir (pl.) | eru (pl.) |
| Það komu þrír gestir. | þrír gestir (pl.) | komu (pl.) |
Það eru margir hér í kvöld.
There are many people here tonight. (plural subject margir → plural verb eru)
English does the same thing in careful speech ("there are many"), but casual English often says "there's many," which lets English speakers forget to make the Icelandic verb plural. In Icelandic the plural is not optional: Það *eru margir, never Það er margir*.
það vanishes when something else fronts
This is the behaviour that most distinguishes Icelandic það from English "there," and it follows directly from seeing það as a first-slot filler. The first slot needs exactly one constituent. If something else moves into first position — a place phrase, a time phrase, anything — the slot is already full, and the dummy það disappears entirely. It was only ever there to plug an empty slot; once the slot is taken, it has no job.
| með það (nothing else fronted) | án það (something else fronted) |
|---|---|
| Það er köttur í garðinum. | Í garðinum er köttur. |
| Það kom maður. | Þá kom maður. |
| Það verður rigning á morgun. | Á morgun verður rigning. |
Í garðinum er köttur.
In the garden there's a cat. (place fronted → no það; verb er is now 2nd)
Á morgun verður rigning.
Tomorrow it'll rain. (time fronted → no það)
Úti er maður að bíða.
Outside there's a man waiting. (place fronted → no það)
Compare English, which keeps "there" no matter what: "In the garden there is a cat." Icelandic drops það because the first slot is now occupied by Í garðinum. Keeping það as well — Í garðinum *það er köttur* — would give two constituents before the verb, which V2 forbids.
Impersonal passives
The same dummy það opens an impersonal passive, where the action matters but no agent is named — the equivalent of "there was dancing / people danced."
Það var dansað fram á nótt.
There was dancing late into the night. (impersonal passive — það + var + past participle)
And, true to form, it too loses its það when something fronts: Á eftir var dansað ("Afterwards there was dancing").
Common Mistakes
❌ Í gær það rigndi allan daginn.
Incorrect — once í gær is fronted, the það must go: Í gær rigndi.
✅ Í gær rigndi allan daginn.
Yesterday it rained all day.
The fronted time phrase í gær fills the first slot, so the dummy það disappears. Keeping both would violate V2 (two constituents before the verb).
❌ Það er margir hér í kvöld.
Incorrect — the verb agrees with the plural margir, not with það: eru.
✅ Það eru margir hér í kvöld.
There are a lot of people here tonight.
Never let það control the verb. The real subject margir is plural, so the verb must be eru.
❌ Í garðinum það er köttur.
Incorrect — with the place fronted there is no room for það: Í garðinum er köttur.
✅ Í garðinum er köttur.
In the garden there's a cat.
English keeps "there"; Icelandic drops það the instant another phrase takes first position.
❌ Það komu maður seint um kvöldið.
Incorrect — a single man is singular: Það kom maður.
✅ Það kom maður seint um kvöldið.
A man came late in the evening.
In a presentational, agree the verb with the indefinite subject. Maður is singular, so the verb is kom; komu is the plural and would need a plural subject (Það komu menn).
❌ Þarna er köttur og ég sé það.
Confusing — the second það here is the referential pronoun 'it', a different word; fine, but don't mistake it for the dummy.
✅ Þarna er köttur og ég sé hann.
There's a cat there and I see it. (refer to köttur with masc. hann, not það)
Keep the two það*s apart. The expletive is meaningless and lives in the first slot; the referential pronoun means "it" and refers to a neuter noun. A cat (*köttur, masculine) is referred to as hann, not það.
Key Takeaways
- Expletive það is a meaningless placeholder that fills the obligatory first slot so the verb can be second (V2).
- It powers weather (Það rignir), existentials (Það er köttur í garðinum), presentationals (Það kom maður), and impersonal passives (Það var dansað).
- The verb agrees with the logical subject, not með það: Það *eru margir, Það komu þrír gestir*.
- Það vanishes the moment any other phrase fronts: Í garðinum *er köttur* — unlike English "there," which stays.
- Distinguish the expletive það (no meaning, first slot) from the referential það ("it / that," points to a neuter noun).
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- 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.