Questions & Answers about Markmiðið er einfalt.
The sentence breaks down like this:
markmiðið – the goal / the objective
- markmið = goal, objective (a neuter noun)
- -ið = the definite ending for neuter singular (so markmið → markmiðið = the goal)
er – is
- The present tense of the verb að vera (to be).
einfalt – simple (here in the neuter singular nominative form, agreeing with markmiðið).
So structurally it is: the-goal is simple.
Icelandic usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the in English.
- Base noun (neuter, singular, nominative): markmið = goal
- With definite article: markmiðið = the goal
For neuter singular nouns in the nominative, the typical definite ending is -ið (sometimes written -ð after a vowel, but pronounced similarly).
Compare:
- barn → barnið = the child
- borð → borðið = the table
- markmið → markmiðið = the goal
So -ið here simply marks definite, singular, neuter, nominative.
In Markmiðið er einfalt, the noun markmiðið is:
- Gender: neuter
- Number: singular
- Case: nominative
Reasoning:
- It’s the subject of the sentence (the goal is doing the “being simple”), and in Icelandic, subjects normally appear in the nominative case.
- The ending -ið on a neuter noun in this kind of sentence is the definite nominative singular ending.
So you can label it as: nominative singular neuter definite.
Markmið is a regular neuter noun. The most useful forms to remember:
Singular
- Nominative: markmið – goal
- Accusative: markmið
- Dative: markmiði
- Genitive: markmiðs
Singular definite
- Nominative: markmiðið – the goal
- Accusative: markmiðið
- Dative: markmiðinu
- Genitive: markmiðsins
Plural
- Nominative: markmið – goals
- Accusative: markmið
- Dative: markmiðum
- Genitive: markmiða
Plural definite
- Nominative: markmiðin – the goals
- Accusative: markmiðin
- Dative: markmiðunum
- Genitive: markmiðanna
In this sentence we are using nominative singular definite: markmiðið.
Adjectives in Icelandic must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- The base adjective is einfaldur (simple).
- markmiðið is neuter, singular, nominative.
- So the adjective must also be neuter, singular, nominative in its weak form (because the noun is definite).
The weak nominative forms of einfaldur are:
- Masculine: einfaldi
- Feminine: einfalda
- Neuter: einfalda
But in predicative position with a neuter subject, the form used is einfalt – this is the neuter form that appears after er when describing a neuter noun like markmiðið.
More practically:
- markmiðið er einfalt – the goal is simple (neuter)
versus e.g. - maðurinn er einfaldur – the man is simple (masculine)
- reglan er einföld – the rule is simple (feminine)
So einfalt is the correct agreeing form for a neuter subject in this construction.
Yes, you can say Einfalt er markmiðið, and it is grammatically correct.
- Markmiðið er einfalt is the normal, neutral word order: Subject – verb – complement (The goal is simple).
- Einfalt er markmiðið front-loads the adjective einfalt. This sounds more emphatic or stylistic, something like: Simple is the goal or The goal is simple, that’s the key point.
So they mean essentially the same thing, but:
- Markmiðið er einfalt – neutral statement.
- Einfalt er markmiðið – a bit more marked, rhetorical, or poetic.
Approximate pronunciation in IPA:
- Markmiðið – [ˈmar̥kˌmɪːðɪð]
- er – [ɛr]
- einfalt – [ˈeiːnˌfalt]
Some tips for an English speaker:
- Stress: Primary stress on the first syllable of Markmiðið (MARK-mi-ðið), and on the first syllable of einfalt (EIN-falt).
- ð (the letter eth):
- In -miðið, it’s like a voiced th in English this, but often quite soft.
- ei in einfalt is like the vowel in English day, but a bit tenser and longer.
- The rk in mark and the final t in einfalt are clearly pronounced; Icelandic tends to articulate consonant clusters fully.
Spoken slowly and clearly, it might sound like:
MARK-mi-ðith er EIN-falt (rough approximation in English spelling).
Start from the singular:
- Markmiðið er einfalt – The goal is simple.
Now make both noun and adjective plural:
- markmiðin = the goals (nominative plural definite)
- For a neuter plural subject, the adjective also takes neuter plural agreement, which for einfaldur is einföld in this predicative use.
So:
- Markmiðin eru einföld. – The goals are simple.
Changes:
- er → eru (3rd person singular → plural of að vera)
- markmiðið → markmiðin (singular → plural)
- einfalt → einföld (neuter singular → neuter plural form).
They are related but not identical:
Markmiðið er einfalt.
- The goal is simple.
- Structure: [Definite noun] + er + [adjective]
- markmiðið is the subject, einfalt describes it.
Það er einfalt markmið.
- Literally: It is a simple goal.
- Það is a dummy subject it/that.
- einfalt markmið is a predicate noun phrase: a simple goal (indefinite).
Differences:
Definiteness:
- Markmiðið er einfalt talks about a specific, known goal (the goal).
- Það er einfalt markmið introduces or describes some goal in a more general or indefinite way (a simple goal).
Word type after the verb:
- einfalt alone is a predicate adjective.
- einfalt markmið is an indefinite noun phrase with an attributive adjective (simple goal).
Both are correct; which one you choose depends on whether you mean the goal (we already know about) is simple or it is a simple goal (introducing or describing one).