Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.

Good experience at work gives her more self-confidence.

Breakdown of Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.

• góður: good
• vinna: the work
• í: at
• gefa: to give
• meira: more
• henni: her
• reynsla: the experience
• sjálfstraust: the self-confidence

Questions & Answers about Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.

Why is it góð reynsla and not góða reynslu in this sentence?

Because góð reynsla is the subject of the sentence, so it must be in the nominative case.

• reynsla = “experience”, feminine singular

  • nominative: reynsla
  • accusative: reynslu
  • dative: reynslu
  • genitive: reynslu

• The adjective góður “good” agrees with reynsla:

  • feminine nominative singular: góð
  • feminine accusative/dative/genitive singular: góða

Here, experience is what does the action of giving (it “gives her more confidence”), so it’s the subject and must be nominative:

• Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.
  → Good experience at work gives her more self-confidence.

If reynsla were an object, you’d expect góða reynslu, but it isn’t here.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in góð reynsla?

Icelandic has no indefinite article (“a / an”), and the definite article is usually a suffix attached to the noun (or sometimes a separate word).

• góð reynsla = “good experience” / “good work experience” (general)
• góða reynslan = “the good experience” (a specific one)

In this sentence, the idea is general: good experience in work (in general) gives her more self-confidence. So no article is used:

• English: Good work experience gives her more confidence.
• Icelandic: Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.

If you wanted to talk about one specific experience, you could say:

• Sú góða reynsla í vinnunni gaf henni meira sjálfstraust.
  “That good experience at the job gave her more self-confidence.”

Why is it í vinnu and not í vinna or í vinnunni?

The phrase í vinnu literally means “in work / at work” and is an idiomatic way of saying “at one’s job / in a job context”.

Grammar points:

1. The preposition í

   • With location / state → takes dative
     
     • í + dative = in, at (no movement)
   • With movement into → takes accusative
     
     • í + accusative = into

2. vinna (“work, job”) is feminine:

   • nominative: vinna
   • accusative: vinnu
   • dative: vinnu
   • genitive: vinnu

So í vinnu = “in work / at work” (here, í governs dative, which happens to look the same as accusative).

3. With or without the definite article:
   • í vinnu = “at work, in work” (general, unspecific)
   • í vinnunni = “at the job, in the (particular) workplace”

In this sentence, the idea is general “in work (as a field / in jobs)”, so í vinnu fits best.

What is gefur, and why is this the correct verb form?

Gefa is the verb “to give”. Gefa follows a regular strong-verb pattern in the present tense.

Infinitive: að gefa – “to give”

Present tense (indicative):

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

In the sentence, the subject is góð reynsla í vinnu (3rd person singular), so we need the 3rd person singular present form:

• Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.
  “Good experience at work gives her more self-confidence.”

Why do we say henni and not hana for “her”?

Because henni is the dative form of “she/her”, and the verb gefa requires dative for the person you give something to.

Forms of “she / her”:

• nominative: hún – subject (“she”)
• accusative: hana – direct object (“see her”)
• dative: henni – indirect object (“give to her”)
• genitive: hennar – possessive (“her/hers”)

The basic pattern for gefa is:

að gefa e-m e-ð
“to give someone something”
(e-m = dative “someone”, e-ð = accusative “something”)

So in our sentence:

• subject (nominative): góð reynsla í vinnu
• indirect object (dative): henni = “to her”
• direct object (accusative): meira sjálfstraust = “more self-confidence”

Hence: gefur henni meira sjálfstraust, not gefur hana meira sjálfstraust.

What’s the difference between henni and til hennar (“to her”) here?

Both can be translated as “to her”, but they are not used the same way.

• henni = dative indirect object, typically used directly after verbs like gefa

  • Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.
    “Good work experience gives her more self-confidence.”

• til hennar = prepositional phrase “to her”, usually with verbs that take til or in more literal “towards” / “to (a person/ place)” senses

  • Ég fór til hennar. – “I went to her.”
  • Ég sendi bréf til hennar. – “I sent a letter to her.”

With gefa, the natural, idiomatic pattern is gefa e-m e-ð using a dative pronoun (henni), not til hennar.

Why is it meira sjálfstraust and not meiri sjálfstraust?

Because sjálfstraust is a neuter noun, and the comparative form meira is the neuter singular of the adjective mikill (“much / a lot (of)”).

• Positive adjective: mikill – “much, many”
  • neuter singular: mikið
• Comparative: meiri (m/f), meira (n)
  • neuter singular: meira

sjálfstraust (“self-confidence”) is neuter:

• nominative singular: sjálfstraust
• accusative singular: sjálfstraust

So the comparative must agree in gender and number:

• meira sjálfstraust – more self-confidence (neuter + neuter)
• meiri sjálfstraust would be ungrammatical.

You can see the same pattern with another neuter noun:

• meira vatn – more water
• meira kaffí – more coffee

Is sjálfstraust one word, and what does it literally mean?

Yes, sjálfstraust is written as one compound word.

It’s made of:

• sjálf- = “self”
• traust = “trust” (a neuter noun meaning “trust, confidence, reliance”)

Literally: “self-trust” → “self-confidence”.

It behaves like a regular neuter noun:

• nominative: sjálfstraust
• accusative: sjálfstraust
• dative: sjálfstrausti
• genitive: sjálfstrausts

In this sentence it’s in the accusative singular as the direct object of gefa:

• gefur henni meira sjálfstraust
  “gives her more self-confidence.”

Why is the word order gefur henni meira sjálfstraust and not gefur meira sjálfstraust henni?

Both word orders are technically possible, but indirect object before direct object is the default, neutral order in Icelandic.

Typical pattern with verbs like gefa:

• subject + verb + indirect object (dative)
  • direct object (accusative)

So:

• Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust.
  (subject) (verb) (IO, dative) (DO, accusative)

You could say:

• Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur meira sjálfstraust henni.

But that sounds marked or unusual; it might be used for special emphasis (for example, if you were contrasting henni with someone else), not as the neutral word order.

So for everyday usage, gefur henni meira sjálfstraust is what you should stick to.

Could í vinnu also mean “while working” or “on the job” in a more abstract way?

Yes. Í vinnu is quite flexible and often has a more abstract, situational meaning:

• literally: “in work / at work”
• in context: “in (one’s) job / in a work situation / while working / on the job”

So Góð reynsla í vinnu gefur henni meira sjálfstraust can be understood as:

• “Good work experience gives her more self-confidence.”
• “Good experience on the job gives her more self-confidence.”
• “Good experience while working gives her more self-confidence.”

All of these capture the sense of í vinnu here.