Questions & Answers about Við tölum stundum saman um leyndarmál.
What does each individual Icelandic word correspond to in English in this sentence?
The sentence is: Við tölum stundum saman um leyndarmál.
Word by word:
- Við – we (subject pronoun, nominative plural)
- tölum – talk / speak (1st person plural present of tala)
- stundum – sometimes (adverb of frequency)
- saman – together / with each other (adverb)
- um – about (preposition governing accusative)
- leyndarmál – secret / secrets (neuter noun; here indefinite, can mean one or more)
So literally: We talk sometimes together about secret(s).
Why is it tölum and not tala or talar?
Tala is the infinitive: að tala = to talk, to speak. It conjugates in the present tense like this:
- ég tala – I talk
- þú talar – you (sg.) talk
- hann / hún / það talar – he / she / it talks
- við tölum – we talk
- þið talið – you (pl.) talk
- þeir / þær / þau tala – they talk
So you use tölum because the subject is við (we), 1st person plural.
The vowel change a → ö (tala → tölum) is a common pattern in Icelandic; historically it comes from a sound change (u-umlaut). You just need to learn it as part of this verb’s normal conjugation.