Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Við tölum oft um mismunandi árstíðir og hvernig veðrið breytist. - We often talk about different seasons and how the weather changes.

The vowel change a → ö is due to a historical sound change (called u-umlaut) that shows up in some verb forms like tölum, förum, komum, etc. You just learn these as part of the conjugation.

Why is the word order Við tölum oft and not Við oft tölum?

Icelandic main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here tölum) almost always comes in second position in the sentence.

In Við tölum oft um …:

Við – first element (subject)
tölum – finite verb (must be second)
oft – adverb
um mismunandi árstíðir … – the rest of the sentence

So Við tölum oft … is normal and idiomatic.

Við oft tölum … breaks the V2 rule and sounds wrong or at least very marked in standard Icelandic. The adverb oft usually comes after the verb in a simple main clause.

What does um do here, and why are árstíðir in the accusative case?

um is a preposition that often means about in the sense of “talk about / think about / read about”.

In Icelandic, prepositions usually govern a particular case. The preposition um takes the accusative case.

Base form (nominative singular): árstíð – a season (feminine)
Nominative plural: árstíðir
Accusative plural: also árstíðir (for this noun, nominative and accusative plural look the same)

So in um mismunandi árstíðir, árstíðir is accusative plural, required by um, even though the form happens to look identical to the nominative plural.

Is mismunandi an adjective, and why doesn’t it change its ending to match árstíðir?

Yes, mismunandi functions as an adjective meaning different / various.

Unlike many adjectives in Icelandic, mismunandi is indeclinable: it does not change its form for gender, number, or case. It stays mismunandi in all contexts.

So you say:

mismunandi árstíðir – different seasons (fem. plural accusative)
mismunandi fólk – different people (neut. sg./pl.)
mismunandi borgum – in different cities (fem. pl. dative)

Other adjectives would change ending (e.g. falleg árstíð / fallegar árstíðir), but mismunandi does not.

English says “the different seasons”; why is there no “the” (definite article) in mismunandi árstíðir?

Icelandic uses the definite article differently from English.

mismunandi árstíðir – different seasons (general / non-specific)
mismunandi árstíðirnar – the different seasons (specific, definite)
hinar mismunandi árstíðirnar – a bit more explicit the different seasons

In many general statements, Icelandic prefers a bare plural where English often uses “the”:

Við tölum oft um bíla. – We often talk about cars.
Við tölum oft um mismunandi árstíðir. – We often talk about different seasons / the different seasons.

So the Icelandic is slightly more general; the natural English translation may add “the” for smoothness. If you really want to emphasize the specific four (or however many) seasons, you can use árstíðirnar.

Why is it veðrið and not just veður?

veður is a neuter noun meaning weather.

Icelandic marks the definite article as a suffix on the noun:

veður – weather
veðrið – the weather

So veðrið literally means the weather.

In natural Icelandic, talking about weather is very often done with the definite form, especially when it’s local or specific:

Veðrið er gott í dag. – The weather is good today.
Hvernig veðrið breytist. – how the weather changes.

You could say hvernig veður breytist, but that sounds more abstract, like “how weather (as a phenomenon) changes,” not plainly “how the weather changes.”

What’s the difference between breytist and breytir?

The base verb is að breyta – to change (something), normally transitive:

Ég breyti reglunum. – I change the rules.
Veðrið breytir landslaginu. – The weather changes the landscape.

Here the verb takes a -st ending: að breytast. This is the middle / reflexive form, usually intransitive, meaning to change, to become different (without saying who changes it):

Veðrið breytist. – The weather changes / is changing.
Hluti borgarinnar breyttist mikið. – Part of the city changed a lot.

So in hvernig veðrið breytist, breytist is correct because “the weather” is simply undergoing change; we’re not saying it changes something else. veðrið breytir would expect an object: veðrið breytir einhverju (the weather changes something).

Why is the order hvernig veðrið breytist and not hvernig breytist veðrið?

The difference is between a direct question and an embedded (indirect) question.

Direct question:
- Hvernig breytist veðrið? – How does the weather change?
  In a direct question, the verb comes right after the question word (still basically V2 word order).
Embedded / indirect question (inside another sentence):
- Við tölum um hvernig veðrið breytist. – We talk about how the weather changes.
Here hvernig veðrið breytist is a subordinate clause, functioning as the object of tölum (um).
In such clauses, Icelandic usually has a more “normal” subject–verb order:
- subject: veðrið
- verb: breytist

So:

Standalone question: Hvernig breytist veðrið?
Embedded inside another clause: … um hvernig veðrið breytist.

What exactly is og connecting in this sentence?

In Við tölum oft um mismunandi árstíðir og hvernig veðrið breytist, the conjunction og (and) is joining two things that we talk about.

You can see the structure like this:

Við tölum oft um [mismunandi árstíðir] og [hvernig veðrið breytist].

The preposition um logically applies to both parts, even though it’s only written once:

about different seasons
and about how the weather changes

You could say … um mismunandi árstíðir og um hvernig veðrið breytist, repeating um, and it would still be correct, just a bit heavier in style.

Can I leave out um and just say Við tölum oft mismunandi árstíðir?

No, you should not leave out um here.

In Icelandic, the verb tala on its own usually means “speak” (a language) or “speak” (to someone):

Við tölum íslensku. – We speak Icelandic.
Við tölum saman. – We talk together.

To say talk about something, you normally need tala um + accusative:

Við tölum oft um mismunandi árstíðir. – We often talk about different seasons.
Við tölum um hvernig veðrið breytist. – We talk about how the weather changes.

Without um, Við tölum oft mismunandi árstíðir sounds ungrammatical or at least very wrong in standard usage.

How do I pronounce the sentence Við tölum oft um mismunandi árstíðir og hvernig veðrið breytist?

Here’s a rough, learner‑friendly guide to the pronunciation (not perfect IPA, but close enough to aim for):

Við – roughly vith (like English with, but voiced th at the end)
tölum – TUR-lum
- ö like German ö, somewhere between uh and eu
- stress on tö-
oft – oft (short o, like offt)
um – um (short u like in put)
mismunandi – MEES-mu-nan-di
- stress on mís- (first syllable), long í
árstíðir – OWRS-tee-thir
- á like ow in cow
- rs often merges a bit; tíð has ð = voiced th
og – ok or og (g often soft, like a very soft g or gh)
hvernig – commonly KVER-nik in modern Reykjavík speech
- hv usually pronounced like kv
- final g is often devoiced/weak, almost -k
veðrið – VETH-rith
- both ð sounds are voiced th
- final -ið like ith
breytist – BRAY-tist
- ey like English ay in day

Main stress in Icelandic is almost always on the first syllable of each word: VIð TÖ-lum OFT um MÍS-mu-nan-di ÁRS-tíðir og HVER-nig VEÐ-ríð BREY-tist (roughly).