Stundum situr hún þögul í hópnum og hlustar bara.

Sometimes she sits silent in the group and just listens.

Breakdown of Stundum situr hún þögul í hópnum og hlustar bara.

• hún: she
• stundum: sometimes
• í: in
• sitja: to sit

Questions & Answers about Stundum situr hún þögul í hópnum og hlustar bara.

In Icelandic word order, why does the verb situr come before the subject hún?

Icelandic is a verb‑second (V2) language in main clauses.

• The first position in the sentence is taken by Stundum (sometimes).
• The finite verb (situr) must then come in second position.
• The subject (hún) comes after the verb.

So the basic structure is:

• Stundum (1st position – adverb)
• situr (2nd position – finite verb)
• hún (3rd position – subject)

You could also say:

• Hún situr stundum þögul í hópnum og hlustar bara.

Here the subject hún is in the 1st position, so the verb situr directly follows it, still staying in 2nd position as required.

What is the infinitive of situr, and how is this verb conjugated?

The infinitive is að sitja (to sit). It is irregular.

Present tense:

• ég sit – I sit
• þú situr – you sit (sg.)
• hann / hún / það situr – he / she / it sits
• við sitjum – we sit
• þið sitjið – you sit (pl.)
• þeir / þær / þau sitja – they sit

In the sentence, hún situr is 3rd person singular present.