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Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður þegar hún útskýrir allt fyrir fólki með mikla streitu.

Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður þegar hún útskýrir allt fyrir fólki með mikla streitu.
The doctor is very patient when she explains everything to people with a lot of stress.
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Questions & Answers about Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður þegar hún útskýrir allt fyrir fólki með mikla streitu.

Why does læknirinn have the ending -inn? Is that just "the doctor"?

Yes. Icelandic doesn’t use a separate word for “the”; it usually attaches a definite article ending to the noun.

  • læknir = a doctor (indefinite, nominative singular)
  • læknirinn = the doctor (definite, nominative singular)

So -inn here is the masculine singular definite article. You don’t say *the læknir in Icelandic; you just use læknirinn.

If læknirinn is grammatically masculine, why is the pronoun later hún (“she”) and not hann (“he”)?

Icelandic distinguishes between:

  • grammatical gender of the noun (læknir is grammatically masculine)
  • natural gender of the person you’re talking about (this doctor is a woman)

Personal pronouns like hún, hann, þau normally follow natural gender for humans. So:

  • You use hún because the doctor is a woman.
  • The fact that læknir is grammatically masculine does not force you to use hann.

So it’s completely normal and correct to have:

  • Læknirinn … þegar hún útskýrir …
    The doctor … when she explains …
Why is the adjective þolinmóður in the masculine form, even though we use hún (“she”) for the doctor?

Predicate adjectives in Icelandic agree with the grammatical gender, number, and case of the noun, not with the pronoun that refers to the person’s natural gender.

  • Noun: læknirinn – masculine, singular, nominative
  • Adjective þolinmóður (“patient”) must therefore be:
    • masculine
    • singular
    • nominative

Main forms of this adjective in the nominative singular:

  • masculine: þolinmóður
  • feminine: þolinmóð
  • neuter: þolinmótt

So:

  • Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður. = The (m.) doctor is very patient. ✔
  • *Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóð. (feminine form) would be considered grammatically wrong in standard Icelandic, even if the doctor is a woman.
What exactly does er mean here, and why is it present tense instead of something like a continuous form?

er is the 3rd person singular present form of vera (“to be”), so it corresponds to “is”.

Icelandic doesn’t have a separate “is being patient” vs “is patient” grammatical contrast like English continuous vs simple. The simple present is used for:

  • general, timeless statements
  • habitual behaviour

So Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður means something like “The doctor is (in general) very patient”, and Icelandic uses the plain present er for that.

What form is útskýrir, and how is it related to the infinitive útskýra?

útskýrir is the 3rd person singular present indicative form of the verb útskýra (“to explain”).

Rough pattern for a typical -a verb like this:

  • infinitive: útskýra – to explain
  • 1st sg pres: ég útskýri – I explain
  • 2nd sg pres: þú útskýrir – you explain
  • 3rd sg pres: hún/hann útskýrir – she/he explains

In the sentence, the subject of the subordinate clause is hún, so we use útskýrir:

  • þegar hún útskýrir allt … = when she explains everything …
Why is þegar used for “when” here, and not þá or something else?

þegar is a subordinating conjunction meaning “when” in the sense of at the time that, introducing a subordinate clause:

  • þegar hún útskýrir allt … = when she explains everything …

By contrast:

  • þá mainly means “then” (adverb of time), not a conjunction:
    • Hún útskýrir allt, þá verður fólkið rólegra.
      She explains everything, then the people become calmer.

Other options:

  • á meðan = while (emphasises that two actions overlap in time)
  • ef = if (not “when”)

So þegar is the right word here because it introduces a time clause: when she explains…

Is there any special word order rule in the part þegar hún útskýrir allt…? I thought Icelandic had verb‑second word order.

In main clauses, Icelandic is typically verb‑second (V2):

  • Læknirinn er mjög þolinmóður.
    (Subject Læknirinn in first position, finite verb er in second.)

In subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like þegar, the verb is not forced into second position after the conjunction. The usual order is:

  • Conjunction – Subject – Verb – (Object / Adverbials)

So:

  • þegar hún útskýrir allt fyrir fólki …
    [þegar] [hún] [útskýrir] [allt] [fyrir fólki] …

This is normal Icelandic word order for a when‑clause and doesn’t violate V2, because V2 mainly applies to independent main clauses, not to clauses introduced by þegar, að, ef, etc.

Why is allt used to mean “everything” instead of a plural form like alla hluti (“all things”)?

allt here is a neuter singular pronoun/adjective meaning “everything / all (of it)”. It corresponds to English “everything”, not “all things” in the plural.

  • allt (neuter singular, nominative/accusative) works as a direct object:
    • hún útskýrir allt = she explains everything

You could say alla hluti (literally “all things”, accusative plural), but:

  • útskýra allt is much more natural and idiomatic
  • allt is shorter and does the job perfectly in everyday Icelandic
Why is fólki in the dative case, and why does fyrir take that case here?

The key is the verb–preposition pattern útskýra eitthvað fyrir einhverjum:

  • útskýra = explain
  • eitthvað = something (direct object, here allt)
  • fyrir einhverjum = to someone, where fyrir governs the dative in this usage

So structurally you have:

  • hún útskýrir [allt] [fyrir fólki]
    she explains [everything] [to people]

Here:

  • fólk is a collective neuter noun meaning “people” (as a group)
  • its dative singular form is fólki

So fyrir fólki = “to/for people” in the sense of explaining to them, and fólki is in the dative because of the construction útskýra e-ð fyrir e-m (explain something to someone).

Why is it með mikla streitu and not something like með mikilli streitu?

The difference comes from how með works with accusative vs dative:

  • með + accusative often means “with / having / characterised by”
  • með + dative often means “together with / accompanied by / using (an instrument)”

Here, fólk með mikla streitu describes people who have a lot of stress. That’s the “having / characterised by” meaning, so með takes the accusative:

  • Noun streita (“stress”) is feminine:
    • accusative singular: streitu
  • Adjective mikill (“much / a lot of”) in fem. acc. sg.: mikla

So:

  • með mikla streitu (accusative) = with a lot of stress / having a lot of stress ✔

með mikilli streitu would put streitu in the dative (mikilli is fem. dat. sg.). That would normally sound off here, because we’re not saying “together with stress as a companion” or “by means of stress”, but rather that these people are under / have a lot of stress. Hence the accusative is the natural choice.

Why is fólk treated like a singular word in Icelandic when it means “people” in English?

fólk is a collective noun in Icelandic:

  • It refers to a group of people as a single mass or unit.
  • Grammatically it is neuter singular.

So you get forms like:

  • nominative: fólk – people
  • dative: fólki – to/for people
  • definite nominative: fólkið – the people

That’s why the sentence uses fyrir fólki (dative singular), even though in English you translate it as “to people”, which looks plural. The meaning is plural, but the grammar is singular neuter.

How do you pronounce the special letters æ, þ, and ú in this sentence?

Very roughly (not strict IPA):

  • æ in Læknirinn

    • Pronounced like the English “eye” sound.
    • So Læ… ≈ “lie” (as in lie down), then add -k-nirinn*.

  • þ in þolinmóður and þegar

    • Pronounced like unvoiced “th” in English “thing, thin”.
    • So þolin… starts like “THO-lin…”, þegar like “THEH-gar” (with a hard g).

  • ú in útskýrir

    • A long “oo” sound, like in English “food”, but held a bit tenser.
    • So útskýrir starts with “oot…”.

These rough equivalents are close enough to help you read the sentence out loud in a reasonably understandable way.