Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Heilsa hennar er góð og hún er mjög heilbrigð þrátt fyrir streitu. - Her health is good and she is very healthy despite stress.

In Icelandic you normally express “someone’s X” with a noun + a possessive pronoun in the genitive, here heilsa hennar = “the health of her / her health”.

heilsa = “health” (a noun)
hennar = “her” in the genitive case (“of her”)

You can’t say hún er heilsa (“she is health”) because heilsa is not describing what she is like but is a thing she has. So you talk about her health as a separate noun phrase: Heilsa hennar er góð = “Her health is good.”

What case is hennar in, and why is that form used?

hennar is the genitive singular of the 3rd‑person feminine pronoun (the “she/her” pronoun). The genitive case is used to show possession or “of-relationship”:

hún = she (nominative, subject form)
henni = to her / for her (dative)
hennar = of her / her (genitive, possessive)

So heilsa hennar literally means “health of her” → “her health”.

Why is the adjective góð and not góður or gott?

Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

heilsa is feminine, singular, nominative.
The base adjective is góður (“good”).
- masculine nominative singular: góður
- feminine nominative singular: góð
- neuter nominative singular: gott

Because heilsa is feminine nominative singular, the correct form is góð:
Heilsa hennar er góð = “Her health is good.”

Why is it hún er mjög heilbrigð and not hún er mjög heilbrigður?

Again, agreement:

Subject: hún = “she”, feminine nominative singular
Adjective: heilbrigður = “healthy” (base form)

The adjective must match hún, so we use:

masculine: heilbrigður
feminine: heilbrigð
neuter: heilbrigt

So with hún you say hún er mjög heilbrigð (“she is very healthy”). With a masculine subject, it would be hann er mjög heilbrigður.

What is the difference in meaning between heilsa and heilbrigð?

They’re different parts of speech:

heilsa = a noun, “health” (the condition itself)
- Heilsa hennar er góð. = “Her health is good.”
heilbrigð = an adjective, “healthy”
- Hún er mjög heilbrigð. = “She is very healthy.”

So the sentence says the state of her health is good, and also she as a person is very healthy.

Why is er repeated: Heilsa hennar er góð og hún er mjög heilbrigð? Could you drop the second er?

The repetition of er marks two separate clauses:

Heilsa hennar er góð
(og) hún er mjög heilbrigð

You can sometimes drop the second er in informal or poetic style:

Heilsa hennar er góð og hún mjög heilbrigð.

However, the most natural, clear standard form in everyday language is to repeat er, especially for learners. It keeps the structure transparent: subject + verb + complement in both parts.

What does þrátt fyrir mean exactly, and what case does it take?

þrátt fyrir is a fixed two‑word prepositional phrase meaning “despite / in spite of”.

It always takes the accusative case.

So when you say þrátt fyrir streitu, the noun after it (streitu) is in the accusative.

Why is it streitu and not streita or streituna?

The noun streita (“stress”) is being governed by þrátt fyrir, which requires the accusative:

Nominative singular: streita
Accusative singular: streitu

So:

þrátt fyrir streitu = “despite stress” (indefinite)
þrátt fyrir streituna = “despite the stress” (accusative + definite ending -na)

In this sentence it’s general, unspecific stress, so streitu (indefinite accusative) is used.

Can I replace streitu with the loanword stress?

Yes, Icelandic also uses the loanword stress as a neuter noun. Then you’d say:

Heilsa hennar er góð og hún er mjög heilbrigð þrátt fyrir stress.

Here stress is also in the accusative after þrátt fyrir, but since it’s neuter with the same form in nominative and accusative, you don’t see a change in ending.

Is there another natural way to say “her health is good” in Icelandic?

A very common alternative is to use vera með (“to have / be with”) plus a noun in the accusative:

Hún er með góða heilsu.
- literally “She is with good health.” → “She has good health.”

So both are natural:

Heilsa hennar er góð.
Hún er með góða heilsu.

The first focuses on her health as a thing; the second focuses on her having good health.

How would the sentence change if we were talking about a man instead of a woman?

You’d change the pronouns and the adjective agreement:

Heilsa hans er góð og hann er mjög heilbrigður þrátt fyrir streitu.

Changes:

hennar → hans (“her” → “his”, genitive)
hún → hann (“she” → “he”)
heilbrigð (feminine) → heilbrigður (masculine)

How do you roughly pronounce heilsa, heilbrigð, þrátt, and fyrir?

Very rough English‑based approximations:

heilsa ≈ “HAYL-sa”
- ei like “ay” in day
- final -sa like “sa” in salsa (short a)
heilbrigð ≈ “HAYL-brigth”
- heil- same start as in heilsa
- -brig- like “brig” in brigade but shorter
- final -ð is like the th in this, but word‑final it often sounds closer to a voiceless “th” (like in thing), so many learners approximate it as “th”
þrátt ≈ “THRAUT”
- þ like th in thing
- á like the ow in cow
- tt is pronounced with a little “h”-coloring, but “THRAUT” is close enough for a learner
fyrir ≈ “FEE-rir” or “FIR-ir”
- stressed fy- somewhere between “fi” in fit and “fee”
- final -rir has a tapped/flapped r; approximating as “rir” is fine at first

Native pronunciation has more detail, but these approximations will make you understandable.