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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hemlaljósið virkar. - The brake light works.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Taking a car for its annual inspection
/Hemlaljósið virkar.

Hemlaljósið virkar.

Word

Hemlaljósið virkar.

Meaning

The brake light works.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Icelandic

Lesson

Taking a car for its annual inspection

Breakdown of Hemlaljósið virkar.

the brake light

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Questions & Answers about Hemlaljósið virkar.

Why does hemlaljósið end in -ið?

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

So:

hemlaljós = brake light / a brake light
hemlaljósið = the brake light

The ending -ið is the definite article here, and it also shows that the noun is neuter singular.

Is hemlaljósið singular or plural?

It is singular: the brake light.

A tricky thing is that the basic form hemlaljós can look the same in singular and plural, because ljós is one of those neuter nouns whose indefinite singular and indefinite plural are identical in form.

Useful forms:

hemlaljós = a brake light / brake lights depending on context
hemlaljósið = the brake light
hemlaljósin = the brake lights

So in your sentence, the ending -ið makes it clearly singular and definite.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Icelandic normally attaches the to the noun as a suffix.

English:

the brake light

Icelandic:

hemlaljósið

This is very common in Icelandic. For example:

bíll = car
bíllinn = the car

So hemlaljósið already includes the idea of the.

What part of speech is virkar, and what form is it?

Virkar is a verb, from the infinitive virka.

In this sentence it is present tense, 3rd person singular.

That matches the subject hemlaljósið, which is treated as it in English:

hemlaljósið = it / the brake light
virkar = works / is working

So the structure is basically:

The brake light works

Why is it virkar and not virka?

Because virka is the infinitive form, like English to work.

In a full sentence with a subject, you need a finite verb form. Here that form is virkar, which is used with he/she/it in the present tense.

Compare:

að virka = to work
ég virka = I work
þú virkar = you work
það virkar = it works

Since hemlaljósið is a singular thing, the sentence uses the it works form: virkar.

Does virka really mean to work for machines and devices?

Yes. Virka is very commonly used for something functioning properly.

So Hemlaljósið virkar means that the brake light is functioning.

This is very natural Icelandic for machines, systems, electronics, lights, and so on. It is much like English works in sentences such as:

The phone works
The internet works
The light works

How would I make this sentence negative?

You usually add ekki after the verb:

Hemlaljósið virkar ekki. = The brake light does not work.

That is the most direct negative version.

You may also hear something like:

Hemlaljósið er bilað. = The brake light is broken.

But if you just want to negate the original sentence, virkar ekki is the straightforward pattern.

How do I pronounce Hemlaljósið virkar?

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation would be:

HEM-la-LYOH-sith VIR-kar

A few notes:

ó is a long vowel, roughly like oh but not exactly English oh
lj is often pronounced something like ly
ð is the soft th sound, as in this
stress in Icelandic usually falls on the first syllable of each word

So the main stress is on:

HEM-laljósið
VIR-kar

Why is Hemlaljósið capitalized?

Only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Icelandic does not capitalize nouns the way German does. So in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be:

hemlaljósið

not capitalized unless there is some special reason.

Is hemlaljósið a compound word?

Yes. Icelandic makes a lot of compound nouns, and this is one of them.

It is built from:

hemla- = related to brakes
ljós = light

So the whole compound means brake light.

Compound words are extremely common in Icelandic, and learning to notice their parts can help a lot with vocabulary.

What is the normal word order here?

This sentence uses the basic Icelandic statement pattern:

Subject + Verb

So:

Hemlaljósið = subject
virkar = verb

That gives:

Hemlaljósið virkar.

If you wanted to turn it into a yes/no question, Icelandic often puts the verb first:

Virkar hemlaljósið? = Does the brake light work?

So the statement and question can be distinguished partly by word order.

How would I say a brake light works instead of the brake light works?

You would remove the definite ending:

Hemlaljós virkar.

That gives an indefinite meaning such as a brake light works or brake light works, depending on context.

In practice, though, Icelandic often leaves indefiniteness less explicit than English does, so the exact best translation may depend on the situation. The important grammar point is:

hemlaljós = indefinite
hemlaljósið = definite

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