Questions & Answers about Vináttan okkar gefur mér gleði.
What does each word in Vináttan okkar gefur mér gleði correspond to in English?
Word-by-word:
vináttan – the friendship
- vinátta = friendship
- -n = the (definite article attached to the noun)
okkar – our / of us
gefur – gives
- 3rd person singular present of gefa (to give)
mér – to me
- dative of ég (I)
gleði – joy
So the literal structure is: “The friendship our gives to‑me joy.”
Natural English: “Our friendship gives me joy.”
Why is it vináttan and not just vinátta?
Vináttan has the definite article -n attached, so it means the friendship rather than just friendship.
- vinátta = friendship (indefinite)
- vináttan = the friendship (definite)
In this sentence, vináttan okkar is talking about a specific, known friendship (ours), so Icelandic normally uses the definite form.
Compare:
- Vinátta er mikilvæg. – Friendship is important. (general idea)
- Vináttan okkar er mikilvæg. – Our friendship is important. (specific friendship)
In English, our already makes the noun specific. In Icelandic, when the possessive comes after the noun (like vináttan okkar), the noun is usually also made definite with -inn / -an / -ið etc.