Ég vil alltaf taka þátt.

I

Breakdown of Ég vil alltaf taka þátt.

• vilja: to want
• alltaf: always
• taka þátt: to take part

Questions & Answers about Ég vil alltaf taka þátt.

Why is it Ég vil and not Mig vil?

Ég is the nominative form of ég (I), and vil is a verb that takes a nominative subject.

• Ég = I (nominative, subject form)
• Mig = me (accusative, object form)

Some other Icelandic verbs, like langar, use an object form as the “subject”:

• Mig langar = I want / I would like (literally me longs)

But vilja (to want) behaves more like English want and takes a normal subject:

• Ég vil = I want
  So Mig vil is ungrammatical.

What does vil mean here, and how is it conjugated?

In this sentence, vil means want (to).

It’s the 1st person singular present tense of the verb vilja (to want, will). Present tense forms:

• 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

After vil, the next verb appears in the bare infinitive (without ), as in here.