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Ég er viss.

Ég er viss.
I am sure.
FromLesson 7inHardcore Icelandic
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Breakdown of Ég er viss.

ég
I
vera
to be
viss
sure

Questions & Answers about Ég er viss.

What are the functions of Ég, er and viss in the sentence “Ég er viss”?

• Ég is the first-person singular pronoun (“I”).
• er is the present-tense form of the verb vera (“to be”).
• viss is an adjective meaning “sure” or “certain,” used predicatively after vera.

Why isn’t viss inflected (e.g. vissur) in “Ég er viss”?
Adjectives in predicative position with a copular verb take the strong declension agreeing in gender, number and case with the subject. The first-person pronoun ég doesn’t show gender, so the default nominative singular form of viss is simply viss.
How do you pronounce “Ég er viss”?

The approximate phonetic rendering is:
• Ég /jɛɣ/ (the initial é is [jɛ], g becomes a voiced fricative [ɣ])
• er /ɛr/
• viss /vɪs/

Is the word order in “Ég er viss” the same as in English “I am sure”?
Yes. Icelandic uses Subject–Verb–Predicate (S-V-C) for a copular construction, which directly parallels the English S-V-C “I am sure.”
Can you drop Ég since er doesn’t change for person?
No. Because er is identical for all persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd), omitting ég would leave the sentence hopelessly ambiguous. The pronoun is required to indicate who is sure.
How do you turn “Ég er viss” into “Are you sure?”

Invert verb and pronoun, and use the 2nd person form:
• Ertu viss?

How do you say “I’m sure that …” in Icelandic?

Use the preposition um + að before a subordinate clause:
• Ég er viss um að hann komi.
(“I’m sure that he’s coming.”)

What’s the difference between viss and öruggur when expressing certainty?

• viss → “mentally certain, convinced.”
• öruggur → primarily “safe, secure”; only colloquially “sure.”
For “I’m sure” in the sense of “certain,” always choose viss.

Why is the é in Ég written with an acute accent?
Icelandic treats é as a separate letter from e, indicating a different vowel quality ([jɛ] rather than [ɛ]). The accent is phonemic, not just decorative.
Why is Ég capitalized here but sometimes you see ég in the middle of sentences?
Icelandic only capitalizes ég at the beginning of a sentence. Anywhere else, it is written lowercase ég, unlike English “I,” which is always capitalized.

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