Því miður man ég ekki lykilorðið.

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Breakdown of Því miður man ég ekki lykilorðið.

• ekki: not
• muna: to remember
• því miður: unfortunately

Questions & Answers about Því miður man ég ekki lykilorðið.

What does the phrase Því miður actually mean, and how do I use it?

• It’s a fixed adverbial meaning “unfortunately”. Literally it’s something like “for that, worse/less,” but you should treat it as a set phrase.
• It most often appears at the start of a sentence, as in the example, but it can also be moved to the end: Ég man ekki lykilorðið, því miður.
• Don’t change its form; use Því miður as-is (not “það miður,” etc.). At sentence start it’s capitalized: Því, otherwise því.

Why is the verb before the subject here (man ég), instead of ég man?

Icelandic main clauses are “V2” (verb-second). If you put something other than the subject first (here, Því miður), the finite verb (man) must come next, and then the subject (ég). Without that fronted phrase you’d say: Ég man ekki lykilorðið.

Where does the negation ekki go, and can it move?

• In neutral word order, ekki comes after the finite verb: man ég ekki …
• It normally appears before a full noun object: Ég man ekki lykilorðið.
• With a pronominal object, the pronoun comes before ekki: Ég man það ekki (not: ✗ Ég man ekki það).
• In questions, same idea: Manstu ekki lykilorðið?

Why is it lykilorðið with -ið at the end?