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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Það rignir mikið í dag. - It is raining a lot today.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Lesson 25
/Það rignir mikið í dag.

Það rignir mikið í dag.

Það rignir mikið í dag.

It is raining a lot today.

Breakdown of Það rignir mikið í dag.

Questions & Answers about Það rignir mikið í dag.

Why do we need Það at the beginning? Is it like English “it” in “It is raining”?

Yes. Það here is a dummy / expletive pronoun, just like English weather “it” in “It’s raining” or “It’s cold”.

There is no real “thing” that það refers to.
It’s just there to fill the subject slot in the sentence.

In spoken Icelandic, það can be dropped in casual speech:

(Það) rignir mikið í dag. – perfectly natural in conversation.

But in neutral, careful language, including writing, you usually keep það.

Why is it rignir and not something with “er”, like “er rignandi”?

Icelandic prefers to use a verb for the weather itself:

að rigna = to rain
það rignir = it rains / it is raining

Using “er” + a noun or adjective is much less common for this idea. You can say:

Það er mikil rigning í dag. – There is a lot of rain today.

but Það rignir mikið í dag is the most natural way to say that it’s really raining a lot today.
You would not normally say “Það er rignandi” for the weather.

What kind of verb is rignir? Can I say “ég rigna” like “I rain”?

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Rignir is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb að rigna (to rain).

að rigna is an impersonal verb: it is almost always used only in the 3rd person singular with það:
- Það rignir.
- Það rigndi í gær. – It rained yesterday.

You basically do not say “ég rigna”, “þú rignir”, etc.
The “subject” of rigna is always that dummy það, not a person or thing.

Where does mikið belong in the sentence? Can I move it?

In Það rignir mikið í dag, the word order is:

Það (dummy subject)
rignir (verb)
mikið (adverb = a lot, much)
í dag (time expression)

This is the most natural order. You can move things a bit for emphasis:

Í dag rignir mikið. – Today it rains a lot. (emphasis on today)
Mikið rignir í dag. – How much it’s raining today! (very emphatic / exclamatory)

But mikið normally comes right after the verb here. You wouldn’t usually say:

✗ Það mikið rignir í dag. (wrong)

What exactly does mikið mean here? Is it “a lot” or “heavily”?

Literally, mikið is the neuter form of the adjective mikill = big, much, a lot.

In this sentence, as an adverb, mikið means:

a lot / much, and by extension heavily (when talking about rain).

So Það rignir mikið í dag can be understood as:

It’s raining a lot today.
It’s raining heavily today.

Could I say “mjög mikið” instead of just “mikið”?

Yes:

Það rignir mjög mikið í dag. – It’s raining very much/a lot today.

mjög = very, so mjög mikið intensifies it:

mikið – a lot
mjög mikið – very much, an awful lot

Word order:

rignir mjög mikið is fine
You wouldn’t split them up as ✗ rignir mikið mjög

What does í dag literally mean, and can it move in the sentence?

í dag literally means “in today”, but idiomatically it is simply “today”.

Placement:

Neutral: Það rignir mikið í dag.
Emphasis on today: Í dag rignir mikið.

You can also say in spoken language:

Í dag er mikið rigning / mikil rigning. – Today there’s a lot of rain. (less common than the verb rigna, but possible)

Can I just say “Rignir mikið í dag” without það?

Yes, in informal spoken Icelandic, it is very common to drop the dummy það at the start with weather verbs:

(Það) rignir mikið í dag.
(Það) snjóar á morgun.
(Það) er kalt úti. – here það is more often kept, but can also be dropped in quick speech.

In formal writing or careful speech, it is safer and more standard to include það.

How would I turn this into a yes–no question: “Is it raining a lot today?”

You don’t change the word order much. You mainly use question intonation, or you can move the verb slightly:

Most natural spoken forms:

Er það að rigna mikið í dag? – Is it raining a lot today? (progressive nuance)
Or simply with rising intonation: Það rignir mikið í dag? (like English “It’s raining a lot today?”)

For a straightforward learner-friendly question using the same words:

Rignir það mikið í dag? – grammatically fine, though slightly less colloquial than just using intonation.

How do I make the sentence negative: “It isn’t raining much today”?

You put ekki (not) right after the verb:

Það rignir ekki mikið í dag.
– It doesn’t rain much today / It isn’t raining much today.

Structure:

Það (dummy subject)
rignir (verb)
ekki (negation)
mikið (degree adverb)
í dag (time)

Is there another common way to say something similar, using a noun for “rain”?

Yes, you can use the noun rigning (rain as a thing):

Það er mikil rigning í dag. – There is a lot of rain today.
Það er lítil rigning í dag. – There is little rain today.

But for simple weather descriptions, Icelandic prefers the weather verb:

Það rignir mikið í dag. is more idiomatic than Það er mikil rigning í dag. in everyday speech.

How do you pronounce “Það rignir mikið í dag”?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like spelling):

Það – like thahth; the ð is a voiced “th” (as in this), often quite soft.
rignir – roughly RIG-nir:
- ri like ri in ring
- gn is like gn in signal (the g is not strongly separate)
- stress on the first syllable: RIG-nir
mikið – MEE-kith:
- í like ee in see
- ð again a soft voiced “th”
í – ee
dag – dahg, with a short a like u in cut, and a hard g at the end.

Main stresses:

Það RIG-nir MEE-kið í DAG
(primary stresses on RIG- and DAG)

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