Breakdown of Okkur finnst gott að hafa stöðuga vinnu, þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt.
Questions & Answers about Okkur finnst gott að hafa stöðuga vinnu, þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt.
In Icelandic, the verb finnast works impersonally and takes a dative experiencer.
- við = “we” in the nominative case
- okkur = “us” in the dative case
With finnast, the person who “feels / thinks / finds” something is put in the dative:
- Mér finnst… = I think / I feel…
- Þér finnst… = You think / you feel… (singular)
- Okkur finnst… = We think / we feel…
So okkur is required here because the verb demands the dative case.
Although okkur refers to “we”, it is not the grammatical subject; it is a dative experiencer.
The construction with finnast is grammatically like:
- (It) seems good to us to have a steady job.
So the logical pattern is:
- (Það) finnst okkur gott…
- (it) seems to us good…
Because the hidden subject is this dummy það (“it”), the verb stays in 3rd person singular: finnst, not finnum.
Literally, okkur finnst gott is “it seems good to us” or “we find (it) good”. In natural English it is usually translated as:
- “We like (it).”
- “We think it is good.”
This pattern is very common:
- Mér finnst þetta gott. = I like this / I think this is good.
- Okkur finnst gott að hafa stöðuga vinnu. = We like having steady work.
Gott is the neuter singular form of the adjective góður (“good”).
In sentences with dummy það (“it”), adjectives often appear in neuter singular:
- (Það) er gott að… = It is good to…
- Okkur finnst gott að… = We think it is good to…
So gott agrees with an unspoken neuter “it” (það) that stands for the whole idea “to have a steady job”. This is a standard pattern when an infinitive clause (að hafa…) functions as a subject-like element.
Að hafa means “to have, to possess” in a general, often more abstract sense.
- að hafa stöðuga vinnu = to have steady work / a steady job
This is a natural verb to use for having a job or having work.
Að eiga literally means “to own, to possess (legally)”, and while it can be used in some expressions about relationships or obligations, að hafa vinnu is the normal way to say “to have a job” or “to be employed” in this sense.
Vinnu is the accusative singular of vinna (“work, job”), because hafa takes a direct object in the accusative.
- (að) hafa vinnu = to have (a) job / to have work
Stöðuga is the strong accusative singular feminine form of stöðugur (“steady”).
- stöðuga vinnu = steady work / a steady job (indefinite)
If you said:
- stöðug vinna – nominative, would not fit after að hafa (which requires accusative here).
- stöðuga vinnan – would mean the steady job, more specific and definite.
The sentence is talking about having steady work in general, not one specific job, so stöðuga vinnu (indefinite accusative) is the natural choice.
Vinna is a feminine noun with this singular paradigm:
- Nominative: vinna
- Accusative: vinnu
- Dative: vinnu
- Genitive: vinnu
The verb að hafa takes its object in the accusative case, so:
- að hafa vinnu – “to have work / a job”
Therefore we get vinnu (accusative), not vinna (nominative).
Þó að means “although, even though” and introduces a concessive subordinate clause:
- …, þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt.
- …, although the job is sometimes difficult.
The comma marks the boundary between the main clause and the subordinate clause. In written Icelandic, it is normal to place a comma before conjunctions like þó að when they introduce a dependent clause. In speech you of course just pause naturally.
Sé is the present subjunctive of vera (“to be”).
After þó að (“although”), Icelandic normally uses the subjunctive mood to express something that is contrary to expectation, concessive, or just presented as a background fact:
- Þó að hann sé þreyttur, vinnur hann áfram.
- Although he is tired, he keeps working.
- Þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt…
- Although the job is sometimes difficult…
Using er (indicative) would be less idiomatic and can sound wrong in standard language; sé is what learners should aim for here.
Both þó að and þótt can mean “although / even though” and often behave similarly.
- Þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt…
- Þótt starfið sé stundum erfitt…
In many contexts they are interchangeable. Þó að is slightly more transparent as “though that…”, while þótt is a more fused form. For a learner, you can treat them as variants of the same conjunction introducing a clause that usually takes the subjunctive.
Starf is a neuter noun:
- Nominative singular: starf
- Definite nominative: starfið = the job
The adjective erfiður (“difficult”) must agree with starfið in gender, number, and case.
- Neuter nominative singular of erfiður is erfitt.
So:
- starfið er erfitt = the job is difficult
- þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt = although the job is sometimes difficult
No, that word order is not natural.
The typical pattern is:
- (Okkur) finnst gott að + infinitive
So:
- Okkur finnst gott að hafa stöðuga vinnu.
Here gott comes immediately after finnst as the predicate, and the að hafa… clause follows it. Moving gott to the very end (…að hafa stöðuga vinnu gott) would sound wrong; it breaks the usual structure “find (it) good to do X”.
Yes, stundum (“sometimes”) is quite flexible in position, though the given order is most natural. Possible variants:
- þó að starfið sé stundum erfitt
- þó að starfið stundum sé erfitt (less common, more marked)
The most idiomatic and neutral position is right before the adjective or the part it modifies, as in the original: sé stundum erfitt.