Það er erfitt að læra íslensku, en það er gaman.

to be

Breakdown of Það er erfitt að læra íslensku, en það er gaman.

• það: it
• gaman: fun
• en: but

Questions & Answers about Það er erfitt að læra íslensku, en það er gaman.

Why does the sentence start with það? Does it mean it or that, and why is it repeated in the second part?

In this sentence það is mostly a dummy subject, like English it in It is hard to learn Icelandic.

• Það er erfitt að læra íslensku literally: It is difficult to learn Icelandic. The real idea is að læra íslensku (to learn Icelandic), but Icelandic prefers to put það in subject position and move the að-clause after the adjective.
• The second það in en það er gaman again works like it: but it is fun (meaning: but learning Icelandic is fun).

You normally cannot drop það here; *… en er gaman is ungrammatical as a full sentence. In informal speech people might just say … en gaman! as a fragment, but in a complete sentence það is expected.

Why is it erfitt and not erfiður or erfið?

The dictionary form of the adjective is usually erfiður (masculine). Icelandic adjectives change form to agree with the gender, number, and case of what they describe.

The basic forms are:

• Masculine: erfiður
• Feminine: erfið
• Neuter: erfitt

In Það er erfitt að læra íslensku, the adjective is not describing a masculine or feminine noun like maður (man) or bók (book). Instead, it describes the general fact (to learn Icelandic). Icelandic treats this kind of abstract as , so the adjective is .