Hver dagur er góður.

to be

Breakdown of Hver dagur er góður.

• góður: good
• dagur: the day
• hver: each

Questions & Answers about Hver dagur er góður.

In English hver usually means who or which. How can it mean every here?

Icelandic hver has two main uses:

1. Interrogative / relative: hver = who / which

   • Hver maður kom? – Which man came? / Who came?

2. Quantifier meaning “each / every” (as in your sentence):

   • Hver dagur er góður. – Every day is good.

Which meaning you get depends on context, word order, and punctuation.
With a period and neutral intonation, Hver dagur er góður. naturally means Every day is good.
With a question mark and rising intonation, Hver dagur er góður? would be Which day is good?

Why is it hver dagur and not hver dag?

Because hver dagur is the subject of the sentence, so it has to be in the nominative case.

• dagur = day (nominative singular, masculine)
  
  • Nom: dagur
  • Acc: dag
  • Dat: degi
  • Gen: dags

In Icelandic, the subject of a normal “X is Y” sentence is nominative:

• Dagur er góður. – The day is good.
• Hver dagur er góður. – Every day is good.

If you said hvern dag, you’d be using the accusative, which is wrong for the subject here.

Why does hver stay the same form as hver dagur, instead of changing like hvern dag or hverjum degi?

Hver must agree in case, number and gender with the noun it modifies.

For masculine singular:

• Nom: hver dagur – every day
• Acc: hvern dag – (e.g. Ég sé hvern dag. – I see every day.)
• Dat: hverjum degi – (e.g. Ég vinn á hverjum degi. – I work every day.)
• Gen: hvers dags

In your sentence, hver dagur is nominative (it’s the subject), so hver is also in nominative masculine singular: hver.

Why is the adjective góður and not góð, gott, or góðir?

Adjectives in Icelandic agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• dagur is:
  • masculine
  • singular
  • nominative

The adjective góður (good) in that form is:

• Masculine nominative singular: góður

Some other forms for comparison:

• Feminine nom. sg.: góð – góð kona (a good woman)
• Neuter nom. sg.: gott – gott barn (a good child)
• Masc. nom. pl.: góðir – góðir dagar (good days)

So with dagur you must say góður: Hver dagur er góður.

The sentence is singular (“day is”), but in English we understand it like “all days are good”. Is that the same in Icelandic?

Yes, it works the same way.

• Hver dagur er góður. literally = Every day is good.
  → Interpreted as a general statement about all days.

Icelandic, like English, often uses singular + every / each to talk about all members of a group individually. So the grammar is singular, but the meaning covers all days in general.

Could you also say Allir dagar eru góðir instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can:

• Hver dagur er góður. – Every day is good.
• Allir dagar eru góðir. – All days are good.

They’re very close in meaning. Rough nuances:

• Hver dagur (every day) focuses slightly more on each day individually.
• Allir dagar (all days) is a bit more collective, talking about the whole set.

In everyday conversation, they’re often interchangeable in contexts like this.

Why is there no separate word like “a” or “the”? Shouldn’t it be “Every the day is good” or something like that?

Icelandic articles work differently from English.

1. There is no separate word for “a / an”. Indefinite nouns are simply bare:

   • dagur – a day / day

2. The definite article “the” is usually a suffix:

   • dagurinn – the day

With hver (“every / each”), you do not use the definite form:

• Hver dagur er góður. – correct (Every day is good.)
• Hver dagurinn – wrong (every the day)

So the bare form dagur is exactly what we want here.

Could the sentence also be written as a question: Hver dagur er góður? What would that mean?

Yes, with a question mark and appropriate intonation, the meaning changes:

• Hver dagur er góður. (with a period)
  → Statement: Every day is good.

• Hver dagur er góður? (with a question mark)
  → Question: Which day is good?

Here hver is no longer “every”; it’s the interrogative “which / what”. Context, punctuation, and intonation decide which reading is intended.

When should I say hver dagur versus á hverjum degi for “every day”?

Both relate to “every day,” but they’re used in different structures:

• hver dagur = nominative noun phrase, can be subject:

  • Hver dagur er góður. – Every day is good.

• á hverjum degi = prepositional phrase (á

  • dative):
  • Ég æfi á hverjum degi. – I exercise every day.
    (literally “I exercise on every day.”)

So:

• Use hver dagur when “every day” is the subject (or otherwise nominative).
• Use á hverjum degi after á when you want “every day” as a time expression (on every day).

Is er only used with “he/she/it”, or is it used for all persons like English “is”?

Er is the 3rd person singular present form of að vera (to be):

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

In your sentence:

• Hver dagur = 3rd person singular
• So the correct form is er: Hver dagur er góður.

How are these three words pronounced, roughly?

Very roughly (using English-like approximations):

• hver – approximately like “kver” (the hv is pronounced like kv)
• dagur – roughly “DAH-gur”
• góður – roughly “GOH-thur”, with ð like the th in “this”

Stress is on the first syllable in all three: HVER dagur er GÓður.