Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Við viljum smá þögn meðan við borðum.

It’s used as the subject of the sentence.
Like English we, it refers to the speaker plus at least one other person.
It’s specifically the nominative form. Other cases of “we/us” exist:
- okkur = us (accusative and dative)
- vor = our (genitive, quite formal / mostly written)

So in this sentence við is the normal subject pronoun: “we”.

Why is it viljum and not vilja?

The verb is að vilja (“to want”), and it conjugates.

vilja is:
- the infinitive (að vilja = to want)
- and also the 3rd person plural present (þeir vilja = they want)
viljum is 1st person plural present:
- við viljum = we want

Present tense of að vilja:

ég vil – I want
þú vilt – you (sg.) want
hann/hún/það vill – he/she/it wants
við viljum – we want
þið viljið – you (pl.) want
þeir/þær/þau vilja – they want

Because the subject is við, you must use viljum.

What exactly does smá þögn mean? Is smá an adjective here?

Smá þögn literally is “a little silence” / “some quiet”.

þögn is a feminine noun meaning “silence, quiet”.
smá here is not just the adjective smár (“small”) in a regular adjective role; it’s used as an indeclinable quantifier, roughly “a bit of”, “some”.

So:

smá þögn ≈ “a bit of silence”, “some quiet”.
It sounds quite natural and idiomatic in Icelandic, similar to English “a little peace and quiet”.

You might also see smá used like this with many nouns:

smá kaffi – a bit of coffee
smá hjálp – a little help
smá peninga – a bit of money

What case is þögn in here, and why does it not change form?

In Við viljum smá þögn, the noun þögn is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb viljum (“we want [something]”).

For this noun:

Nominative singular: þögn
Accusative singular: þögn

They are identical in form, so you can’t see the case change on the surface. But syntactically, it’s accusative: it’s the thing that is wanted.

Why isn’t there any article like “the” or “a” before þögn?

Icelandic does not have an indefinite article (a/an). “A little silence” is simply expressed as smá þögn, without “a”.

The definite article (“the”) is a suffix attached to the noun:

þögnin = the silence

If you said:

Við viljum smá þögnina, this would mean something like We want some of the silence (pointing to some particular silence that has been mentioned or is obvious from context). That’s unusual in this context and would sound off or overly specific.

So smá þögn is the normal, generic “some silence / a little quiet”.

What is the nuance of þögn compared to words like ró, kyrrð, or friður?

All of these relate to “quiet” or “peace”, but they have different flavors:

þögn – silence, the absence of talking or noise.
- Very concrete: people not speaking, room going quiet, etc.
ró – calm, tranquility, peace (often emotional or atmospheric).
- ró og næði = peace and quiet, calm and privacy.
kyrrð – stillness, deep quiet.
- Often a bit poetic or descriptive of nature: kvöldkyrrð (evening stillness).
friður – peace (opposite of conflict/war, or personal peace of mind).
- friður í heiminum = peace in the world.

In this sentence, þögn is appropriate because it’s about keeping quiet while eating, i.e. less talking/noise.

What does meðan mean, and how is it different from á meðan?

Meðan is a subordinating conjunction meaning “while” (during the time that).

meðan við borðum = “while we eat”

Á meðan is more like an adverbial phrase (“in the meantime / during that time”), and it often appears:

either with no clause after it:
- Þú getur eldað. Á meðan þvæ ég upp.
  You can cook. In the meantime, I’ll wash up.
or as á meðan (að) + clause, but then it’s more informal/spoken and can sound a bit heavier.

In your sentence, meðan við borðum is the cleanest, standard way to say “while we eat” as part of one sentence.

Why is it meðan við borðum and not something like meðan að við borðum?

In standard Icelandic, meðan as a conjunction is used without “að”:

meðan við borðum – correct and normal
meðan að við borðum – generally considered non‑standard / colloquial, and usually avoided in writing

The conjunctions þegar (when), ef (if), meðan (while), etc., typically do not take “að” in standard usage.

So: stick to meðan við borðum.

Why is the verb borðum here and not borða?

The infinitive is að borða = “to eat”.
Borðum is the 1st person plural present tense:

Present tense of að borða:

ég borða – I eat
þú borðar – you (sg.) eat
hann/hún/það borðar – he/she/it eats
við borðum – we eat
þið borðið – you (pl.) eat
þeir/þær/þau borða – they eat

Because the subject of the clause is við, the verb must agree and be borðum:
meðan við borðum = “while we eat”.

If you said only meðan borða, it would be ungrammatical because you’d be missing the subject (við) and the verb would be in the wrong form for that structure.

Can you drop the second við and just say Við viljum smá þögn meðan borðum?

No, not in normal Icelandic. You cannot drop við here.

The clause meðan við borðum is a full finite clause that needs its own explicit subject:

meðan við borðum – while we eat

Unlike some languages, Icelandic does not usually allow “subject drop” in a separate clause like this. So:

Við viljum smá þögn meðan við borðum. – correct
Við viljum smá þögn meðan borðum. – ungrammatical

Is Við viljum smá þögn meðan við borðum polite and natural in Icelandic?

Yes, it’s natural, but its politeness level depends on tone and context.

Literally: “We want a bit of silence while we eat.”
It can sound quite direct, something like English: “We want some quiet while we eat.”

In a polite or request context (e.g. to children, or in public), Icelanders often prefer softer forms, for example:

Gætum við fengið smá þögn meðan við borðum?
“Could we get a bit of silence while we eat?”
Væri hægt að fá smá þögn meðan við borðum?
“Would it be possible to have a bit of quiet while we eat?”

So the sentence is correct and idiomatic, but as a bare statement it may sound a bit firm or parental depending on the situation.

How do you pronounce við viljum smá þögn meðan við borðum?

Approximate IPA and comments:

við – [vɪð]
- ð is a soft, voiced “th” sound as in English this.
viljum – [ˈvɪljʏm]
- lj = [lj], like ly in million (but clearer).
smá – [smauː]
- á is like ow in cow, but longer and tenser.
þögn – [θœkn̥] (often very close to [θœɣn̥] depending on speaker)
- þ is a voiceless “th” as in thing.
- ö is like German ö or French eu in peur.
- gn is tricky: the g can be very weak or almost gone; the final n is voiceless [n̥] after k or g, so the cluster can sound like a quick “kn”.
meðan – [ˈmɛːðan]
- ð again voiced “th” as in this.
borðum – [ˈpɔrðʏm]
- Initial b is often slightly devoiced, sounding close to [p].
- ð again = this “th”.
- ó would be [ouː], but here o is [ɔ], more like short aw in law (but shorter).
- u in -um is [ʏ], like German ü in Hütte.

Putting it together slowly:

[vɪð ˈvɪljʏm smauː θœkn̥ ˈmɛːðan vɪð ˈpɔrðʏm]

In natural speech it will flow more and some sounds will weaken slightly.