Log inSign up

Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.

Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.
We sit on the grass and talk together.

Breakdown of Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.

við
we
saman
together
á
on
sitja
to sit
og
and
tala
to talk
grasið
the grass
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Icelandic grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Icelandic now

Questions & Answers about Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.

What does við mean here, and is it always a subject pronoun like we in English?

In this sentence, við means we and is the subject of the sentence.

  • Við is the 1st person plural nominative pronoun: we.
  • It does not change form for subject vs. object like English we/us; við is used only as a subject.
  • As an object, Icelandic uses a different form: okkur = us.
  • Be aware that við can also be a preposition meaning against, but in that case it is followed by another word and has a different role in the sentence. Here, it’s clearly a subject pronoun.
Why is it sitjum and tölum, not something like sitja or tala?

Sitjum and tölum are the verbs conjugated for we (1st person plural) in the present tense.

  • sitja = to sit (infinitive)
    • við sitjum = we sit / we are sitting
  • tala = to speak / talk (infinitive)
    • við tölum = we speak / we are talking

The pattern is:

  • infinitive: sitja, tala
  • við form (1st person plural present): sitjum, tölum

Icelandic normally doesn’t use the infinitive for a finite main verb the way English can with to sit or to talk. You must conjugate the verb to match the subject.

How can sitjum and tölum mean are sitting and are talking without an extra verb like erum (are)?

Icelandic simple present usually covers both:

  • English we sit and we are sitting → við sitjum
  • English we talk and we are talking → við tölum

So the sentence naturally translates as:

  • Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.
    = We are sitting on the grass and talking together.

Icelandic does have a progressive-like form (erum að sitja, are sitting), but it’s not needed here and would often sound more marked or slightly different in meaning (more like emphasizing the ongoing action). For a neutral description of what’s happening right now, the simple present is normal.

Could I say Við erum að sitja á grasinu og erum að tala saman instead?

You can say that, and it is grammatically correct, but it has a slightly different feel:

  • Við sitjum á grasinu og tölum saman.
    – Neutral, natural description of what we are doing right now.

  • Við erum að sitja á grasinu og erum að tala saman.
    – More explicit “ongoing action,” similar to stressing we are in the process of sitting and are in the process of talking. It can sound a bit heavier or more deliberate in everyday speech.

In most contexts, the shorter original sentence is more natural.

Why is it á grasinu and not just á gras or something with a separate word for the?

Several things are going on in á grasinu:

  1. á = on

    • This preposition takes dative when it means location (on, in, at in a static sense).

  2. gras = grass, a neuter noun.

  3. -inu is the definite article + dative singular ending for a neuter noun:

    • nominative indefinite: gras = grass
    • dative definite: grasinu = the grass (in the dative case)

So á grasinu literally means on the grass, with the attached as a suffix rather than a separate word. Icelandic normally adds the article as an ending instead of using a separate word like the.

Why does á take the dative case here? Could it ever take a different case?

Yes, á can govern either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

  • Dative = location (where something is):

    • Við sitjum á grasinu. – We are sitting on the grass. (static location)

  • Accusative = direction / movement (onto/into):

    • Við setjumst á grasið. – We sit down on(to) the grass. (movement onto it)

In your sentence, the action is staying in one place, so á uses the dative, giving grasinu.

What does saman add to the meaning of tölum? Isn’t talking already “with each other”?

Saman literally means together.

  • tala = to talk / speak
  • tala saman = to talk together, i.e. to each other, to have a conversation

While if two people are talking usually implies “with each other,” saman makes that idea explicit. It emphasizes the mutual, interactive nature of the talking, similar to saying we talk with each other or we’re having a conversation.

Why is the word order Við sitjum á grasinu and not something like Við á grasinu sitjum?

Icelandic has a strong verb-second (V2) tendency in main clauses:

  • The finite verb (here, sitjum) normally appears in second position in statements.

So:

  1. Við (subject)
  2. sitjum (finite verb)
  3. á grasinu (prepositional phrase)

Reordering it to Við á grasinu sitjum would sound awkward or poetic/marked. The natural neutral order is Subject – Verb – Other elements, with the verb in second place.

How is við pronounced, especially the letter ð?

In við:

  • v is like English v.
  • í is a long ee sound, like see (IPA [iː]).
  • ð in this position is a voiced “th” sound, like the th in this or that (IPA [ð]).

So við is roughly like veeth (with a voiced th, not like thin).

Does við tell us anything about gender, and does Icelandic distinguish we (males) vs we (females)?

Við does not show gender. It just means we.

Icelandic:

  • does not have separate pronouns for we (all men) vs. we (all women),
  • and við can refer to any group of people, regardless of gender.

Gender shows up in adjectives and participles sometimes (and in nouns themselves), but the pronoun við is gender-neutral in form.