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Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel.

Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel.
The story helps me sleep well.

Breakdown of Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel.

sofa
to sleep
vel
well
hjálpa
to help
mér
me
saga
the story
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Questions & Answers about Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel.

What does Sagan literally mean, and why does it end in -an?

Sagan means “the story”.

  • Saga = a story (indefinite, basic form, nominative singular)
  • Sagan = the story (definite, nominative singular)

In Icelandic, the definite article (“the”) is usually attached to the end of the noun as a suffix, instead of being a separate word as in English. So:

  • saga → sag
    • an = sagan (the story)
How would I say “a story helps me sleep well” instead of “the story helps me sleep well”?

You would simply remove the definite ending -an:

  • Saga hjálpar mér að sofa vel.
    = A story helps me sleep well.

So:

  • saga = a story
  • sagan = the story
What form of the verb is hjálpar, and why isn’t it hjálpa?

The verb is hjálpa (to help). In the sentence, it’s conjugated:

  • hjálpa = infinitive (to help)
  • hjálpar = 3rd person singular present (helps)

The subject is Sagan (the story), which is 3rd person singular, so:

  • Sagan hjálpar… = The story helps…
  • If the subject were plural: Sögurnar hjálpa… = The stories help…
What is mér, and why is that form used instead of ég?

Ég means “I” in the nominative case (used for the subject).

Mér is the dative case form of ég, and it means “to me / for me”.

The verb hjálpa (to help) always takes the dative case for the person being helped. So:

  • Ég hjálpa þér. = I help you. (subject ég, object þér [dative of þú])
  • Sagan hjálpar mér. = The story helps me. (subject sagan, object mér [dative of ég])

So mér is used because hjálpa requires the dative case for the person who receives the help.

Is hjálpa always followed by the dative, like mér?

Yes. Hjálpa governs the dative case for the person (or thing) being helped. Some examples:

  • Hún hjálpar mér. – She helps me.
  • Ég hjálpa honum. – I help him.
  • Þeir hjálpa okkur. – They help us.
  • Bókin hjálpar nemendum. – The book helps (the) students. (nemendum = dative plural of nemandi)
What is að sofa grammatically? Is að just like “to” in English?

Yes. Here:

  • að
    • sofa = to sleep (infinitive)

Sofa is the infinitive form of the verb to sleep.
In Icelandic, að is used before infinitive verbs much like English “to”:

  • að lesa – to read
  • að borða – to eat
  • að sofa – to sleep

So að sofa is simply the infinitive phrase “to sleep”.

What is the difference between að sofa and að sofna?

Both relate to sleep, but they’re different:

  • að sofa = to sleep (the ongoing state of sleeping)
    • Ég vil sofa. – I want to sleep.
  • að sofna = to fall asleep / to go to sleep (the process of starting to sleep)
    • Ég reyni að sofna. – I’m trying to fall asleep.

In your sentence, að sofa vel = to sleep well (how you sleep, not the moment you fall asleep).
If you wanted “helps me fall asleep”, you’d say:

  • Sagan hjálpar mér að sofna.
Why is it vel and not góður or gott? How does vel work?

Vel is an adverb meaning “well”.

  • góður/góð/gott are adjectives meaning “good” and they describe nouns:
    • góður maður – a good man
    • góð saga – a good story
    • gott hús – a good house

Vel describes how you do something (the manner of the action), so it goes with verbs:

  • að sofa vel – to sleep well
  • að borða vel – to eat well
  • að tala vel – to speak well

So sofa vel = sleep well, not sleep good.

Could the word order be different, like “Sagan hjálpar að sofa mér vel”?

No, that word order would be incorrect.

The normal and natural order is:

  • Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel.
    • subject: Sagan
    • verb: hjálpar
    • indirect object (dative): mér
    • infinitive phrase: að sofa vel

You can sometimes move mér for emphasis, e.g.:

  • Mér hjálpar sagan að sofa vel. – It is me that the story helps to sleep well.

But you should keep að immediately before sofa, and mér shouldn’t go after sofa in this sentence.

How would I say “The story helped me sleep well” in the past tense?

You put hjálpa in the past tense:

  • Sagan hjálpaði mér að sofa vel.
    = The story helped me sleep well.

Here:

  • hjálpar (present) → hjálpaði (past) for 3rd person singular.
How do I say “The stories help me sleep well” and “The stories helped me sleep well”?

  • Present tense (help):
    Sögurnar hjálpa mér að sofa vel.

    • Sögurnar = the stories (definite plural)
    • hjálpa = present plural form (help)

  • Past tense (helped):
    Sögurnar hjálpuðu mér að sofa vel.

    • hjálpuðu = past plural form (helped)
Is there any special pronunciation in Sagan hjálpar mér að sofa vel that I should know about?

Yes, a few points that often surprise English speakers (approximate, not IPA):

  • Sagan – roughly SAH-gahn
  • hj in hjálpar is pronounced with a breathy /hy-/ or /ç/ sound, not like English “hj”:
    • hjálpar ≈ HYAL-par (the á is like ow in cow)
  • mér – roughly myer (one syllable, é like ye in yes)
  • sofa – SO-va (stress on the first syllable)
  • vel – roughly vel but with a light l (a bit like vedl for some speakers)

Listening to native audio and repeating the whole sentence rhythmically will help:

  • SAG-an HYAL-par MYER að SO-va VEL.
How would I emphasize “me”, like “The story helps me (as opposed to someone else) sleep well”?

In spoken Icelandic, emphasis is mostly done with stress and intonation:

  • Sagan hjálpar MÉR að sofa vel. (stress mér)

You can also front mér in the sentence to strengthen the focus:

  • Mér hjálpar sagan að sofa vel.
    Literally: To me helps the story to sleep well.
    This sounds like you’re contrasting yourself with others: It’s me that the story helps sleep well.