Questions & Answers about Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.
In English we say I am writing a short postcard. Why is it just Ég skrifa stutt póstkort and not something like Ég er að skrifa?
Modern Icelandic usually uses the simple present (Ég skrifa) where English uses the present continuous (I am writing).
- Ég skrifa stutt póstkort can mean:
- I write a short postcard (habitual, e.g. every week), or
- I am writing a short postcard (right now), depending on context.
You can say:
- Ég er að skrifa stutt póstkort.
This literally means I am in the process of writing a short postcard and emphasizes the ongoing action more strongly, similar to the English continuous. But using Ég skrifa alone is already perfectly normal for “I am writing” in many contexts, so the simple present is much more common than in English.
Why is there no word for a in stutt póstkort? Why not something like eitt stutt póstkort?
Icelandic has no indefinite article (no direct equivalent of English a / an).
- stutt póstkort = a short postcard or short postcard in English.
You only add einn / ein / eitt as a numeral when you specifically mean “one (single) postcard” rather than just “a postcard”:
- Ég skrifa eitt stutt póstkort.
= I write one short postcard (emphasizing the number one).
Without eitt, the default translation into English is with .