Ég nenni ekki að fara út í rigningunni í kvöld.

I do not feel like going out in the rain tonight.

Breakdown of Ég nenni ekki að fara út í rigningunni í kvöld.

• ég: I
• ekki: not
• fara: to go
• í: in

Questions & Answers about Ég nenni ekki að fara út í rigningunni í kvöld.

What does nenni mean here? Is it just want?

Not exactly. Að nenna is a very common Icelandic verb that means something like:

• to feel like doing something
• to be willing to bother
• to have the energy / motivation for it

So Ég nenni ekki... is stronger and more specific than just I don’t want to... It often suggests lack of energy, patience, or enthusiasm.

Examples:

• Ég nenni ekki að elda. = I can’t be bothered to cook / I don’t feel like cooking.
• Ég nenni ekki að læra. = I don’t feel like studying.

So in this sentence, nenni ekki gives the idea: I really don’t feel like bothering to go out...

Why is ekki placed after nenni?

Because in ordinary Icelandic sentence structure, the negation ekki usually comes after the finite verb.

Here the finite verb is nenni.

So:

• Ég nenni ekki... = I do not feel like...

This is very normal Icelandic word order.

Compare:

• Ég fer ekki. = I’m not going.
• Hann skilur ekki. = He doesn’t understand.

English speakers often want to put not directly before the infinitive idea, but Icelandic normally negates the main conjugated verb first.

Why is there an að before fara?