Ég elska allt.

I love everything.

Breakdown of Ég elska allt.

• ég: I
• elska: to love
• allt: everything

Questions & Answers about Ég elska allt.

What does each individual word in Ég elska allt mean?

Word by word:

• Ég = I (first‑person singular subject pronoun)
• elska = love (verb, present tense, I love)
• allt = everything / all (of it) (neuter pronoun, from the adjective allur = all)

So the sentence is literally I love everything or I love it all (depending on context).

How do you pronounce Ég elska allt, and where is the stress?

A careful learner pronunciation that Icelanders will understand is roughly:

• Ég ≈ [jɛː] – like English yeah but held a bit longer
• elska ≈ [ˈɛlska] – EL-ska, stress on the first syllable
• allt ≈ [aht] ~ [alt] – short a like in cup but a bit more open, then a hard t; the ll+t cluster is special and often sounds like aht / alt

Sentence-level: [jɛː ˈɛlska aht] is a good approximation.
Stress in Icelandic is almost always on the first syllable of each word, so Ég and EL‑ in elska carry the main stress.

Why does Ég have an accent on é, and how is that different from a plain e?

Icelandic treats é as a separate letter from e:

• e is usually pronounced roughly like [ɛ] (similar to bed).
• é is pronounced roughly [jɛ] / [je] – it includes a y‑sound at the start.

So Ég starts with a y-type sound (like yeh), not just a plain eh. That is why ég sounds more like yeh than like egg.

Are there different forms of Ég like I / me / my in English?

Yes. Icelandic uses case forms instead of changing the word (I / me / my) in the same way English does:

• ég – nominative (subject) → I
• mig – accusative (direct object) → me (as in They see me)
• mér – dative (indirect object) → to/for me (as in They gave me a book)
• mín – genitive (of me) → used in possessive forms (mín, mínn, mitt, etc.)

In Ég elska allt, Ég is the subject, so it must be in the nominative, not mig or mér.

I learned að elska as to love. Why is there no að in this sentence?

Að is the infinitive marker, used when the verb is in its infinitive form:

• að elska = to love

In Ég elska allt, the verb is finite (it is conjugated for person and tense):

• ég elska = I love

You only use að with the infinitive, for example:

• Mig langar að elska = I want to love
• Ég vil að þú elski mig (different structure, but note the að before a verb clause)

So you drop að when you actually conjugate the verb for the subject.

How is elska conjugated in the present tense?

Present tense of að elska (to love):

• ég elska – I love
• þú elskar – you (singular) love
• hann / hún / það elskar – he / she / it loves
• við elskum – we love
• þið elskið – you (plural) love
• þeir / þær / þau elska – they love

In Ég elska allt, the form elska matches ég (first person singular).

Does elska always mean romantic love, or can it also mean like?

Elska is usually a strong word, like English to love:

• Ég elska þig = I love you (very strong)
• Ég elska íslensku = I love Icelandic (I like it very much)

For ordinary liking, Icelandic often uses other verbs:

• Mér líkar þetta = I like this
• Mér finnst þetta gott = I think this is good / I like this

So:

• elska ≈ love (strong feeling)
• líka / mér líkar ≈ like

In Ég elska allt, it sounds like a very strong or exaggerated statement: I love everything / I love it all.

Why is it allt here and not allur, öll, or something else?

The base adjective is allur = all, every. It changes form for gender, number, and case.

Key nominative forms:

• allur – masculine singular
• öll – feminine singular
• allt – neuter singular

In this sentence, allt is the neuter singular form.
Icelandic often uses neuter singular to talk about things in general / everything as a mass, so allt works as a pronoun meaning everything / all (of it).

So Ég elska allt literally uses the neuter singular “all” to mean I love everything.

What gender and case is allt here, and why?

In Ég elska allt:

• Gender/number: neuter singular (form of allur)
• Case: accusative

Reason:

• Elska takes its direct object in the accusative case.
• allt is the direct object (the thing loved), so it must be accusative.
• For neuter nouns/adjectives, nominative and accusative are the same form: allt.

So grammatically, allt here is neuter singular accusative, functioning as a pronoun meaning everything.

Can allt also mean all of it instead of everything?

Yes. Allt can mean:

1. everything in a general sense

   • Ég veit allt = I know everything

2. all of it / the whole thing referring to a specific thing or set

   • (Looking at a cake) Ég borðaði allt = I ate all of it / I ate the whole thing

Context tells you which is meant.
So Ég elska allt could be:

• General: I love everything (in general).
• Specific: I love all of it (for example, all the songs on an album, all of the place you are visiting, etc.).

Is the word order in Ég elska allt always subject–verb–object, like in English?

The neutral word order is very similar to English: Subject – Verb – Object:

• Ég elska allt = I love everything

However, Icelandic is also a verb‑second (V2) language, especially in main clauses:

• In statements with a normal subject at the start:
  Ég (subject) elska (verb) allt (object) – same as English.
• If you move something else to the front for emphasis, the verb still comes second:
  
  • Allt elska ég = Everything, I love / I love everything (emphasizing everything)
  • Í dag elska ég allt = Today I love everything

So the basic order here matches English, but Icelandic allows reordering for emphasis while keeping the finite verb in second position.

How would you say I don’t love everything and Do you love everything? using this sentence as a base?

Using Ég elska allt as the base:

• I don’t love everything
  → Ég elska ekki allt.
  (ekki is the normal negation word and usually comes right after the verb.)

• Do you love everything? (talking to one person)
  → Elskar þú allt?
  Icelandic forms yes/no questions mainly by putting the verb first, without adding a word like do.

Similarly:

• Do I love everything?
  → Elska ég allt?

What is the difference between allt and forms like allir, allar, and öll?

These are all forms of allur = all, but they are used differently:

• allt – neuter singular (nom/acc)

  • Often means everything / all of it
  • Ég elska allt = I love everything

• allir – masculine plural nominative

  • Often all (masculine group) / everyone (masc or mixed group)
  • Allir koma = Everyone (they all) is coming

• allar – feminine plural nominative

  • all (feminine group)
  • Allar stelpurnar = All the girls

• öll – neuter plural nominative

  • all (neuter plural things or mixed groups of neuter nouns)
  • Öll börnin = All the children

So:

• Use allt when you mean everything / all of it in a general or neuter sense.
• Use allir / allar / öll when you mean all of them / everyone, and you choose the form according to gender and number of what you are talking about.