Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust. - Friendship gives me more self-confidence.

vinátta is a feminine noun ending in -a.
Its definite form in the nominative singular is made by adding -n, but because the noun already ends in -a, the combined form becomes -an:
- vinátta → vináttan (the friendship)

So vináttan literally means the friendship as the subject of the sentence.

Why is vináttan the subject of the sentence, and what is the literal structure with the verb gefa?

The main verb gefur is the 3rd person singular present of gefa = to give.

The basic pattern for gefa is:

[subject in nominative] + gefa + [indirect object in dative] + [direct object in accusative]

Applied to the sentence:

Vináttan (nominative, subject)
gefur (3rd person singular, present)
mér (dative, indirect object = to me)
meira sjálfstraust (accusative, direct object = more self-confidence)

So, literally:
The friendship gives me more self-confidence.

Why is it mér and not mig for “me”? What case is mér?

Icelandic personal pronouns change form depending on grammatical case.

For ég (I), the singular forms are:

Nominative: ég (I – subject)
Accusative: mig (me – direct object)
Dative: mér (me – indirect object, to/for me)
Genitive: mín (of me)

The verb gefa (to give) normally takes:

dative for the indirect object (the recipient)
accusative for the direct object (the thing given)

So:

mér is dative = to me
meira sjálfstraust is the thing being given = direct object

That’s why it is gefur mér and not gefur mig.

What exactly is meira here? Is it an adjective or an adverb, and what is the base form?

Meira here is the comparative form of mikið, which can function both as:

an adjective: mikið = much, a lot (of something)
an adverb: mikið = much, a lot (in degree)

Comparative forms:

mikið → meira = more
mest = most (superlative)

In meira sjálfstraust, meira functions like more (amount of), modifying the noun sjálfstraust. It behaves like a neuter comparative form, and because sjálfstraust is a neuter noun, meira is a natural fit in front of it.

So you can think of meira sjálfstraust as more (of) self-confidence.

Why is it meira sjálfstraust and not something like meiri sjálfstraust?

This comes from two facts:

sjálfstraust is a neuter noun.
The comparative meira is the neuter singular form commonly used when talking about amount (more of something).

Comparative of mikill (much/many) by gender in the nominative singular:

Masculine: meiri
Feminine: meiri
Neuter: meira

Since sjálfstraust is neuter, the neuter form meira is used.

If you had a masculine noun, you might see meiri instead, e.g.:

meiri styrkur = more strength (styrkur is masculine)

But here:

meira sjálfstraust = more self-confidence (neuter noun)

What does sjálfstraust literally mean, and what kind of noun is it?

Sjálfstraust is a compound noun:

sjálf = self
traust = trust, confidence

So literally: self-trust → self-confidence.

Grammatically:

Gender: neuter
Number: usually uncountable (you don’t typically make a regular plural of it in normal usage)
In the sentence, meira sjálfstraust is in the accusative singular neuter, but for neuter nouns the nominative and accusative forms look the same, so you don’t see a change in form.

The definite form would be:

sjálfstraustið = the self-confidence

Is there any article (a/the) missing before sjálfstraust? Why don’t we say something like meira af sjálfstraustinu?

Icelandic article usage is not identical to English.

In this sentence, meira sjálfstraust is a bare mass noun phrase:

meira sjálfstraust = more self-confidence (in general, not a specific, identified “portion” of self-confidence)

If you used the definite form:

meira af sjálfstraustinu = more of the self-confidence

That would sound more specific or contextual, as if you were talking about a particular, already-known self-confidence. For a general statement about what friendship does, the bare form meira sjálfstraust is more natural.

Also note:

Icelandic does not use an indefinite article (no word for a/an).
The definite article is normally a suffix (e.g. sjálfstraustið, vináttan).

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Vináttan gefur meira sjálfstraust mér?

The neutral, most natural word order in Icelandic is:

Subject – Verb – [Indirect object in dative] – [Direct object in accusative]

So:

Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust
Subject – Verb – Indirect obj – Direct obj

You can change word order in Icelandic for emphasis or stylistic reasons, but:

Vináttan gefur meira sjálfstraust mér is not natural in standard modern Icelandic. Moving mér after meira sjálfstraust here sounds wrong.

More realistic variations would be with a different constituent in the front for emphasis, e.g.:

Mér gefur vináttan meira sjálfstraust.
(To me, friendship gives more self-confidence.)

But the original sentence (Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.) is the normal default.

How would I change the sentence to say “Friendship gives us more self-confidence”?

You only need to change the indirect object pronoun to the 1st person plural dative form.

Pronouns for við (we) in the plural:

Nominative: við (we)
Accusative: okkur (us)
Dative: okkur (to/for us)
Genitive: okkar (of us)

The verb gefa still takes the dative for the indirect object, so:

Vináttan gefur okkur meira sjálfstraust.
= Friendship gives us more self-confidence.

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.

How would I put the sentence in the past tense: “Friendship gave me more self-confidence”?

You only need to change the verb gefur (present tense) to gaf (past tense, 3rd person singular).

Present:
Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.
= Friendship gives me more self-confidence.
Past:
Vináttan gaf mér meira sjálfstraust.
= Friendship gave me more self-confidence.

The cases and the rest of the sentence do not change.

Is vinátta the same as vinur? How do their meanings differ?

They are related but not the same:

vinur (masculine noun) = a (male) friend
Plural: vinir = friends
Definite singular: vinurinn = the (male) friend
vinátta (feminine abstract noun) = friendship (the concept or relationship)

So:

vináttan = the friendship
vinurinn = the (male) friend

In your sentence, Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust, you are talking about the abstract quality/relationship of friendship, not about a specific person.

How do you pronounce Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA + rough English hints):

Vináttan
- IPA: [ˈvɪːnˌau̯htan]
- v = like v in very
- i = like i in sit, but a bit tenser/longer here
- ná (spelled ná, but here nátt combination) with á = like ow in cow
- tt often has a little glottal stop or a tight t sound
- an = a short ahn
gefur
- IPA: [ˈcɛːvʏr] (the initial g before e is palatal, like a ky sound)
- Roughly like “gye-vur”, but with a fronted g (between g and k+y)
mér
- IPA: [mjɛːr]
- mé with é = like ye in yes but longer, close to m-yehr
meira
- IPA: [ˈmeiːra]
- ei = like ay in say (so approximates MAY-ra)
sjálfstraust
- IPA: [ˈsjaulvstrœyst] (pronunciations may vary slightly)
- sj = like sh but with the tongue more towards the front (similar to hy or shy)
- á = ow in cow
- au in traust = like öy (German eu in Freund)
- Final st as in English

Put together, a rough approximation:
“VEE-n-owt-tan GYE-vur MYAIR-uh MAY-ra SHYOULV-ströyst.”
(This is only a rough guide; authentic Icelandic pronunciation has subtleties that are hard to show with English spelling.)

Why is Vináttan capitalized? Is that always the case?

Vináttan is capitalized here simply because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Icelandic:

Only the first word of the sentence and proper nouns (names of people, places, etc.) are capitalized.
Common nouns like vinátta (friendship) or sjálfstraust (self-confidence) are normally not capitalized in the middle of a sentence.

So if the word appeared mid-sentence, you would write:

… að vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.
(… that friendship gives me more self-confidence.)

Here vináttan would be in lowercase.

Is there a way to say the same idea without the definite article, like just “Friendship gives me more self-confidence” rather than “The friendship”?

Yes. While vináttan is literally the friendship, in many generic, general statements Icelandic can use either:

a bare noun (no article), or
the definite form, depending on style and nuance.

Another natural, more general-sounding option is:

Vinátta gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.
(Literally: Friendship gives me more self-confidence.)

Here:

Vinátta is indefinite / generic.
It emphasizes friendship as a concept in general.

Both sentences are possible:

Vinátta gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.
Vináttan gefur mér meira sjálfstraust.

The version with vináttan can feel a bit more like “this thing called friendship / that kind of relationship,” but in many contexts they can both translate naturally into English as Friendship gives me more self-confidence.