Ferðalagið var langt en það var gaman.

to be

Breakdown of Ferðalagið var langt en það var gaman.

• það: it
• gaman: fun
• en: but

Questions & Answers about Ferðalagið var langt en það var gaman.

What does the suffix –ið on Ferðalagið mean?

The ending –ið is the definite article for neuter singular nouns in Icelandic. Instead of a separate word like “the,” Icelandic attaches –inn, –in, or –ið directly to the noun, depending on gender and number. Here Ferðalag (“journey,” neuter) becomes Ferðalagið, “the journey.”

Why does the adjective langt end in –t instead of –ur?

Adjectives in Icelandic agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. When an adjective follows the verb vera (“to be”) as a predicate, it takes the nominative form. For a neuter singular noun like Ferðalagið, the correct nominative form of langur (“long”) is langt, hence Ferðalagið var langt.

Why is það used in það var gaman if we already have Ferðalagið as the subject?

In Icelandic, gaman (“fun”) is actually a noun, not an adjective, so you need a dummy or “expletive” subject það (“it”) to form “It was fun.” The original trip can’t directly serve as the grammatical subject of gaman, so Icelandic inserts það: En það var gaman = “But it was fun.”

Why isn’t there an article before gaman? Couldn’t we say það var eitt gaman?