Some proverbs are worth dismantling because they freeze a single piece of grammar in a shape you can carry around. Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár — "many a one is strong though he be small" — is one of these. Its whole grammatical payload is one thing: the subjunctive sé triggered by the concessive conjunction þótt "(al)though". Memorise the line and you have internalised one of the most reliable subjunctive triggers in the language. Just as valuable is what the proverb does not do — and this is where learners over-read it. The main clause Margur er knár is in completely plain subject–verb–predicate order: there is no fronting, no V2 inversion, no clever word-order trick. Margur is simply the subject. This page presents the proverb, parses every word, shows how the concessive subjunctive works, and puts the line back into real use.
The proverb
Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
Many a one is strong though he be small. — i.e. plenty of small people are tough. [ˈmarɣʏr ɛːr knauːr ˈθouht han sjɛː smauːr]
The everyday meaning: size isn't strength — plenty of small, slight people turn out to be tough, capable, and not to be underestimated. You say it in praise or defence of someone who is physically small (a child, a small player, a small nation) but who punches above their weight. It is a close cousin of English "good things come in small packages" or "don't underestimate the little ones".
Word by word
| Word | What it is | Form & function |
|---|---|---|
| Margur | indefinite pronoun / determiner | "many a one, many a man" — masculine nominative singular; the subject of the main clause |
| er | verb | "is" — 3rd sg. present indicative of vera "to be"; the main-clause verb, in normal second position after its subject |
| knár | predicate adjective | "strong, doughty, capable" — masculine nom. sg., agreeing with margur; note the accent: knár |
| þótt | concessive conjunction | "(al)though, even though" — a contraction of þó að; introduces the subordinate clause and triggers the subjunctive |
| hann | pronoun | "he" — masculine nom. sg., subject of the subordinate clause, referring back to margur |
| sé | verb | "be" — 3rd sg. present subjunctive of vera (indicative would be er) |
| smár | predicate adjective | "small, slight" — masculine nom. sg., agreeing with hann; accent: smár |
Read straight across: "Many-a-one is strong, though he be small."
The grammar, piece by piece
1. The main clause is plain S–V–predicate — no inversion
Start with what the sentence is not doing, because this is the easy thing to misread. The main clause is Margur er knár, and it is in ordinary declarative order: subject (margur) – verb (er) – predicate adjective (knár). That is the same shape as Hann er stór "He is big" or Bíllinn er rauður "The car is red".
There is no fronting here and therefore no V2 inversion. Margur is the grammatical subject, sitting in first position because that is where subjects normally sit; the verb er follows it. This is the crucial contrast with a proverb like Sjaldan er ein báran stök, where an adverb (sjaldan) is fronted into first position, forcing the verb ahead of the subject. Nothing of the kind happens in Margur er knár: the first word is the subject itself, so subject-before-verb is exactly what you expect. Do not be tempted to read margur as a fronted predicate or as triggering any inversion — it is just the subject.
Margur er knár.
Many a one is strong. — plain S–V–predicate: subject margur, verb er, predicate knár. No inversion.
Hann er knár.
He is strong. — exactly the same structure with an ordinary pronoun subject, to show margur behaves like any subject.
2. margur: an indefinite pronoun meaning "many a one"
Margur is an indefinite pronoun/determiner. In the plural it means "many" (margir menn "many men"), but here, in the masculine singular, it carries the special sense "many a one, many a man" — a generalising singular that stands for "a good number of people, taken one at a time". English has the matching archaic-flavoured construction "many a man", and that is the closest gloss. Because it is masculine singular and the subject, everything that agrees with it — the predicate knár, the resumptive pronoun hann — is masculine singular too.
3. knár and smár: predicate-adjective agreement (and the accents)
Both adjectives are predicate adjectives in the masculine nominative singular, agreeing with their masculine-singular subjects (knár with margur, smár with hann). knár means "strong, doughty, vigorous, capable"; smár means "small, slight, little".
The orthography matters: both end in -ár with the acute accent — knár, smár — and the accent is not decoration but part of the spelling and the vowel (long á [au]). The rhyme of the proverb (knár / smár) depends on it, and a dropped accent (*knar, *smar) is a spelling error. Their full agreement sets are regular strong-adjective paradigms:
| Gender (nom. sg.) | "strong" | "small" |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | knár | smár |
| feminine | kná | smá |
| neuter | knátt | smátt |
Litla landsliðið er knátt þrátt fyrir allt.
The small national team is doughty in spite of everything. — knátt here is neuter, agreeing with neuter landsliðið, to show the agreement at work.
4. þótt + subjunctive: the heart of the proverb
Now the payload. The conjunction þótt means "(al)though, even though". It is a contraction of þó að (þó "though" + the complementiser að), and you will see both spellings; þótt hann sé smár and þó að hann sé smár are the same thing. The grammatically important fact is that þótt is a concessive conjunction, and concessive clauses take the subjunctive. That is why the verb in the subordinate clause is sé — the present subjunctive of vera — and not the indicative er.
Why the subjunctive? A concessive clause does not flatly assert its content as a fact you are reporting; it sets it up as a conceded condition — "granting that he may be small", "be he ever so small". This non-assertive, "let it be the case that…" colouring is exactly the territory of the subjunctive across the language: wishes, hypotheticals, conceded suppositions. þótt plants you in that territory automatically. So the proverb is a compact, memorable specimen of concessive þótt + subjunctive, and learning it as a fixed line gives you the trigger for free.
The relevant forms of vera to keep straight:
| Person | Present indicative | Present subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | er | sé |
| þú | ert | sért |
| hann/hún/það | er | sé |
| við | erum | séum |
| þið | eruð | séuð |
| þeir/þær/þau | eru | séu |
Þótt hann sé smár er hann sterkur.
Though he is small, he is strong. — þótt + subjunctive sé; note also that fronting the whole þótt-clause does force V2 in the main clause (… er hann …).
Ég ætla að fara út þótt það rigni.
I'm going to go out even though it's raining. — concessive þótt + subjunctive rigni (indicative would be rignir).
Þótt þú sért þreyttur verðum við að klára þetta.
Even though you're tired, we have to finish this. — þótt + 2nd sg. subjunctive sért.
The cultural image: small but mighty
The proverb belongs to a small nation that has long made a virtue of being outnumbered and out-sized. Iceland's self-image — a tiny population on a remote island holding its own — is exactly the wisdom the line encodes: margur er knár þótt hann sé smár, many a small one is tough. You will hear it applied to a small child who stands up to bigger ones, to a small sports team that beats a giant, and, half-proudly, to Iceland itself. It is affectionate and admiring, never dismissive: the point is that smallness and strength are not opposites.
Strákurinn er minnstur í liðinu en skorar mest — margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
The boy is the smallest on the team but scores the most — many a one is strong though he be small. (admiring a small but capable player)
Three real contexts of use
Ekki vanmeta hana þó hún sé lítil — margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
Don't underestimate her just because she's little — good things come in small packages. (defending someone small)
Litla fyrirtækið velti stóru keppinautunum úr sessi. Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
The little company toppled its big competitors. Many a one is strong though he be small. (admiring an underdog)
Já, hann er enginn risi, en sterkur eins og naut. Það er nú einu sinni þannig að margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
Yeah, he's no giant, but strong as an ox. That's just how it is — many a one is strong though he be small. (summing up)
Common Mistakes
❌ Margur er knár þótt hann er smár.
Mood error — þótt is concessive and requires the SUBJUNCTIVE sé, not the indicative er.
✅ Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
Many a one is strong though he be small. — þótt + subjunctive sé.
The number-one error: using the indicative er after þótt. Concessive þótt demands the subjunctive sé. This is precisely the trigger the proverb exists to teach.
❌ (reading) 'margur is the predicate, and the sentence inverts like Sjaldan er ein báran stök.'
Syntax misreading — margur is the SUBJECT, and Margur er knár is plain S–V–predicate with no inversion.
✅ (reading) 'margur is the subject; the main clause is ordinary subject–verb–predicate.'
Correct — no fronting, no V2 here; the subjunctive after þótt is the feature to notice.
Don't import the V2-inversion lesson from other proverbs. Here the first word is the subject, so the order is just normal.
❌ Margur er knar þott hann se smar.
Dropped accents — it must be knár, þótt, sé, smár. The acute accents are obligatory letters, not optional marks.
✅ Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
With every accent in place: knár, þótt, sé, smár.
The accents are part of the spelling (and the rhyme knár/smár). Dropping them is an error.
❌ Margur er knár þótt hann sé stór.
Sense/agreement slip — the contrast word is smár 'small', not stór 'big'; the whole point is small-yet-strong.
✅ Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár.
The conceded clause is 'though he be small' — smár, the opposite the proverb plays on.
Key Takeaways
- Margur er knár þótt hann sé smár = "many a one is strong though he be small" — i.e. don't underestimate the small; size isn't strength.
- The main clause Margur er knár is plain subject–verb–predicate order — margur ("many a one") is the subject, and there is no fronting and no V2 inversion.
- The feature to learn is the subjunctive sé, triggered by the concessive conjunction þótt ("(al)though", = þó að). After þótt, vera is sé/sért/séu, never the indicative er/ert/eru.
- The predicate adjectives knár and smár are masculine nominative singular, agreeing with their subjects; the acute accents (and the knár/smár rhyme) are obligatory.
- Memorising the line hard-wires a key rule — concessive clause → subjunctive — so the proverb doubles as a subjunctive drill.
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