Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa okkur árangur í lífinu.

Small victories every day give us success in life.

Breakdown of Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa okkur árangur í lífinu.

• lítill: small
• dagurinn: the day
• á: on
• í: in
• hver: every
• okkur: us
• sigurinn: the victory
• gefa: to give
• árangurinn: the success
• lífið: the life

Questions & Answers about Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa okkur árangur í lífinu.

Why is it Litlir sigrar and not something like lítlir sigur or litlar sigrar?

Sigur (victory) is a masculine noun. In the nominative plural it becomes sigrar.

The adjective lítill (small) has to agree with the noun in:

• gender (masculine)
• number (plural)
• case (nominative here, because it’s the subject)

So:

• lítill sigur = a small victory (masc. nominative singular)
• litlir sigrar = small victories (masc. nominative plural)

litlar sigrar would be wrong because litlar is the feminine plural form, but sigrar is masculine plural, so they wouldn’t match.

What case is sigrar in, and how can I tell?

Sigrar is in the nominative plural.

You can tell because:

1. It’s the subject of the sentence – the thing doing the action:
   Litlir sigrar … gefa okkur árangur
   Small victories give us success.

2. The base form sigur in the nominative singular becomes sigrar in the nominative plural. That’s a typical masculine -ur noun pattern:

• nominative singular: sigur
• nominative plural: sigrar

Since it’s at the start and does the “giving,” it’s nominative.

What exactly does á hverjum degi mean, and why is it degi and not dagur?

Á hverjum degi literally means “on each day”, idiomatically “every day”.

• á is a preposition that often takes the dative when it means “on (a surface/time)” in a static way.
• dagur (day) is masculine:
  • nominative singular: dagur
  • dative singular: degi

Because á here expresses time (“on each day”), it takes the dative, so you get á … degi, not á … dagur.

hverjum is also in the dative singular to agree with degi:

• hver (each, every) → hverjum (masc. dat. sg.)
  So: á hverjum degi = on every day.

What’s the difference between á hverjum degi and alla daga for “every day”?

Both are common and both mean “every day”, but they have slightly different structures:

• á hverjum degi

  • literally: on each day
  • preposition á
    • dative singular: hverjum degi
  • a bit more “each separate day” in feel, but very normal and neutral.

• alla daga

  • literally: all days
  • alla = accusative plural of allur (all)
  • daga = accusative plural of dagur
  • sounds very idiomatic and is probably the most frequent everyday way to say “every day”.

In this sentence, á hverjum degi nicely emphasizes the idea of steadily accumulating small victories on each day.

Why is the verb gefa and not gefur?

Icelandic verbs agree with the grammatical person and number of the subject.

The subject here is Litlir sigrar = small victories → 3rd person plural.

The verb gefa (to give) in the present tense:

• ég gef – I give
• þú gefur – you (sing.) give
• hann/hún/það gefur – he/she/it gives
• við gefum – we give
• þið gefið – you (pl.) give
• þeir/þær/þau gefa – they give

Since the subject is plural (they = the small victories), you need gefa (3rd person plural), not gefur (3rd person singular).

What case is okkur, and what is the corresponding subject form?

Okkur is 1st person plural dative: it means “to us” / “for us”.

Forms of “we/us”:

• við = we (nominative, subject)
• okkur = us (accusative and dative, object or indirect object)

In this sentence:

• gefa okkur árangur = “give us success”

So:

• subject would be við (we)
• indirect object is okkur (to us)

What does árangur mean here, and what case is it in?

Árangur means “success,” “results,” “achievement” in a general sense.

In the sentence, it is the direct object of gefa (“to give”), so it’s in the accusative singular.

For this noun, nominative and accusative singular have the same form:

• nominative: árangur
• accusative: árangur

So you don’t see a change in form, but its role in the sentence (what is being given) tells you it’s the object → accusative.

Why is it í lífinu and not í líf or í lífi?

There are two things going on: case and definiteness.

1. Case (dative)

   • The preposition í can take dative (location/state) or accusative (movement into).
   • Here it means “in life” as a state, not “into life,” so it uses the dative.
   • líf (life) is neuter:
     • nominative/accusative singular: líf
     • dative singular definite: lífinu

2. Definiteness

   • Icelandic uses a suffix instead of a separate word for “the.”
   • líf = life (in general / indefinite)
   • lífið (nom./acc.), lífinu (dat.) = the life

Í lífinu literally means “in the life”, but idiomatically it’s how you say “in life” in a general, proverbial sense.
Saying just í lífi would usually mean “alive” (as in “in life, not dead”), which is different.

Why is lífinu in the dative, and how would the meaning change with accusative?

Í works like this:

• í
  • dative → location / state: in, inside, at
• í
  • accusative → movement into: into, in(to) and out again, change of state

Here we are talking about a general state: success in life → a location/state usage → dative: í lífinu.

If you (hypothetically) used accusative, í lífið, it would suggest movement into life, like “into (the) life” – that would normally be used in a different context (e.g., “to step into life”), not in this proverb-like sentence.

Why does líf have the definite ending -inu, but árangur does not?

Because we’re talking about:

• success in a general, non-specific way
• but life as a kind of conceptual “the life” (all of life, life as a whole)

So:

• árangur = (some) success, success in general → no definite suffix
• líf → lífið / lífinu when made definite (“the life”)

Using the definite form lífinu with í is idiomatic for this kind of abstract idea: í lífinu ≈ “in (one’s) life / in life (overall).”

If you said gefa okkur árangurinn, you’d be talking about a particular, known result: “give us the success/result,” which is not what is meant here.

Can I change the word order, for example put á hverjum degi later or okkur earlier?

Yes, Icelandic word order is flexible, especially with adverbial phrases and indirect objects, as long as the verb keeps its place in main clauses (usually 2nd position).

All of these are possible and natural, with small differences in emphasis:

• Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa okkur árangur í lífinu.
• Litlir sigrar gefa okkur á hverjum degi árangur í lífinu.
• Á hverjum degi gefa litlir sigrar okkur árangur í lífinu. (stronger emphasis on “every day”)
• Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa árangur í lífinu okkur. (this last one is odd; okkur naturally comes before árangur or right after the verb)

The most neutral for written style is the original:
Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa okkur árangur í lífinu.

Could I leave out okkur and just say Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa árangur í lífinu?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

• Litlir sigrar á hverjum degi gefa árangur í lífinu.
  = “Small victories every day give (produce) success in life.”

Without okkur, the sentence is more impersonal and general: small victories lead to success in life, for anyone.

With okkur, it is more personal/inclusive:
… gefa okkur árangur í lífinu = “give us success in life,” including speaker and listener.

Could I say Lítill sigur á hverjum degi gefur okkur árangur í lífinu instead, and how would the meaning change?

You could, and it would be grammatical:

• Lítill sigur á hverjum degi gefur okkur árangur í lífinu.
  = “A small victory each day gives us success in life.”

Differences:

• Litlir sigrar … gefa (plural)

  • focuses on many small victories
  • suggests an accumulation of multiple wins each day or over days

• Lítill sigur … gefur (singular)

  • focuses on one small victory per day
  • more like: “one small win a day…”

Both express a similar life lesson, but the original plural version highlights many small victories more strongly.