Hreyfingin er góð.

The exercise is good.

Breakdown of Hreyfingin er góð.

• vera: to be
• góð: good
• hreyfingin: the exercise

Questions & Answers about Hreyfingin er góð.

What does hreyfingin literally mean, and what is its base dictionary form?

The base dictionary form is hreyfing, a feminine noun meaning roughly movement, motion, or exercise (physical activity).

With the ending -in, it becomes hreyfingin, which means the movement or the exercise. So the sentence literally says: The movement / The exercise is good.

What is the ending -in in hreyfingin, and why is it attached to the noun instead of a separate word?

The ending -in is the definite article (the word the) for a feminine singular noun in the nominative case.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually stuck onto the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front, as in English. So:

• hreyfing = movement / exercise
• hreyfingin = the movement / the exercise

Similarly:

• bók = book → bókin = the book (feminine)
• stóll = chair → stóllinn = the chair (masculine)
• barn = child → barnið = the child (neuter)

What gender, case, and number is hreyfingin here, and why?

In this sentence, hreyfingin is:

• Gender: feminine
• Number: singular
• Case: nominative

Reason:

• It is the subject of the sentence (Hreyfingin is what “is good”), and subjects typically stand in the nominative case.
• The noun hreyfing is grammatically feminine in Icelandic, so its definite nominative singular form is hreyfingin.

Why is the adjective góð in that form, and not góður or gott?

Adjectives in Icelandic must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, the adjective góður (good) appears in the form góð because it is agreeing with:

• a feminine noun (hreyfing)
• in singular
• in nominative case

Basic forms of góður (good) in the nominative singular are:

• góður – masculine
• góð – feminine
• gott – neuter

So we get:

• Hreyfingin er góð. – The movement / exercise is good. (feminine)
• Stóllinn er góður. – The chair is good. (masculine)
• Húsið er gott. – The house is good. (neuter)

Is er a special form of a verb, and how is it used?

Yes. Er is a present-tense form of the verb að vera (to be).

The present tense of að vera is irregular. Some forms:

• ég er – I am
• þú ert – you (singular) are
• hann / hún / það er – he / she / it is
• við erum – we are
• þið eruð – you (plural) are
• þeir / þær / þau eru – they are

In Hreyfingin er góð, er is 3rd person singular (because hreyfingin is a singular thing):
The movement / exercise is good.

Can Hreyfingin er góð also mean Exercise is good (for you), not just The movement is good?

Yes. In many contexts, hreyfing means physical exercise or being physically active, not just any kind of movement.

So Hreyfingin er góð is very naturally understood as:

• Exercise is good (for you).
• Physical activity is good.

If you add something like fyrir heilsuna (for the health), the exercise meaning becomes even clearer:

• Hreyfingin er góð fyrir heilsuna. – Exercise is good for your health.

Can I say Hreyfing er góð without the -in, and does it mean the same thing?

You can grammatically say Hreyfing er góð, but it sounds less natural for the common general statement Exercise is good.

In Icelandic, when making a general statement about a whole concept (like coffee, winter, exercise), speakers very often use the definite form:

• Kaffið er gott. – Coffee is good.
• Veturinn er kaldur. – Winter is cold.
• Hreyfingin er góð. – Exercise is good.

Using bare hreyfing (without the article) is more likely to be understood as some movement / a movement in some specific context, rather than the general idea of exercise. So for the natural, generic meaning, Hreyfingin er góð is the usual choice.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say Movements are good (plural)?

You make everything plural: the noun, the verb, and the adjective.

• Singular:

  • Hreyfingin er góð. – The movement / exercise is good.

• Plural:

  • Hreyfingar eru góðar. – Movements are good.

Changes:

• hreyfing → hreyfingar (plural noun)
• er → eru (3rd person plural of að vera)
• góð → góðar (feminine plural nominative form of the adjective)

How do you pronounce Hreyfingin er góð?

Approximate pronunciation (in simple English terms):

• Hreyfingin – roughly like HRAY-ving-in

  • hr: the h makes the r sound breathy; there is always r there, not just h.
  • ey: like the ay in day.
  • The g here is pronounced, and -in at the end is like -in in English “in”, but shorter and clearer.

• er – like air, but shorter.

• góð – roughly goath (with a long o sound)

  • ó: like a long o in go.
  • ð: a soft th sound, like in this, not like in thin.

A rough IPA guide (not perfect but indicative):
[ˈr̥ei.vɪŋ.ɪn ɛr kouːð]

Can I change the word order to Góð er hreyfingin, and if so, what effect does that have?

Yes, Góð er hreyfingin is grammatically correct, but it sounds:

• more poetic, literary, or
• like you are emphasizing the adjective góð (good).

So:

• Hreyfingin er góð. – neutral word order: The movement / exercise is good.
• Góð er hreyfingin. – something like: Good is the movement / exercise, with extra focus on good.

In normal everyday speech, the basic Subject–Verb–Complement order (Hreyfingin er góð) is the default.

How would I say The movement is very good?

You add an adverb before the adjective:

• Hreyfingin er mjög góð. – The movement / exercise is very good.

Other common intensifiers:

• Hreyfingin er rosalega góð. – The movement / exercise is really good.
• Hreyfingin er ákaflega góð. – The movement / exercise is extremely good.

The structure is always:
Hreyfingin er + [adverb] + góð.