Ég ætlaði að sækja um starfið, og hún hvatti mig til þess þegar ég var ekki alveg viss.

Ætlaði is the past tense of ætla. With ég, it means something like I intended to, I was going to, or I planned to.

In this sentence, it shows that the intention existed in the past. It does not automatically tell you whether the speaker actually applied for the job. It only tells you that the speaker had that plan at the time.

After ætla, Icelandic normally uses að + infinitive.

So:

• ætla að gera eitthvað = to intend to do something

Here:

• ætlaði að sækja um starfið = intended to apply for the job

That að is the infinitive marker, similar to English to in to apply.

Sækja um is a fixed verb expression meaning to apply for.

So:

• sækja um starf = apply for a job
• sækja um styrk = apply for a grant

The um is part of the expression. You cannot just use sækja by itself with the same meaning here.

On its own, sækja can mean things like seek, fetch, attend, or go after, depending on context. But sækja um specifically means apply for.

Starfið is starf with the definite article attached, so it means the job rather than just a job.

Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun:

• starf = job
• starfið = the job

So the sentence is referring to a specific job, not just any job.

It is in the accusative singular.

The expression sækja um eitthvað takes an object in the accusative, and for the neuter noun starf, the accusative singular definite form is starfið.

Because starf is neuter, the nominative and accusative singular look the same in the definite form here, so you do not see a visible difference in spelling.

Because mig is the accusative form of ég.

The verb hvetja takes a direct object, and the person being encouraged is that object:

• hún hvatti mig = she encouraged me

So:

• ég = I (subject form)
• mig = me (object form)

English has the same distinction: I vs me.

Hvatti is the past tense, 3rd person singular form of hvetja, which means to encourage, to urge, or to prompt.

So:

• hún hvetur mig = she encourages me
• hún hvatti mig = she encouraged me

This is a common kind of Icelandic past-tense stem change, so it is worth learning as a full verb form rather than trying to predict it only from the present tense.

Because Icelandic commonly uses the pattern:

• hvetja einhvern til einhvers = encourage someone to do something / toward something

Here, til þess means roughly to do that or to that effect, referring back to the earlier idea of applying for the job.

So the sentence avoids repeating að sækja um starfið a second time.

Because til takes the genitive case, and þess is the genitive form of það.

So:

• til þess = literally to/of that, but in natural English here it means to do that or to that

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic:

• til + genitive

That is why you get þess, not a nominative or accusative form.

When Icelandic refers back to a whole idea, action, or clause, it often uses a neuter pronoun.

Here, þess does not refer to a masculine or feminine noun like a person. It refers to the whole previous action: applying for the job.

So neuter is natural because the pronoun is pointing back to an abstract idea, not to a concrete noun with personal gender.

Yes. That would also be natural.

There are two common ways to express this idea:

• hún hvatti mig til þess = she encouraged me to do that
• hún hvatti mig til að sækja um starfið = she encouraged me to apply for the job

The version with til þess is more compact because it avoids repeating the whole verb phrase.

It means not entirely sure or not quite sure.

Breaking it down:

• ekki = not
• alveg = completely / entirely
• viss = sure / certain

So:

• ég var ekki alveg viss = I was not completely sure

In English, we often translate this more naturally as I wasn’t quite sure.

Because ekki negates the whole idea that follows.

So ekki alveg viss means the speaker was not fully sure. The negation comes before the degree expression alveg and the adjective viss.

This order is very natural in Icelandic for predicate phrases like this.

Var is the normal past indicative form of vera.

It is used because the speaker is describing a real past situation:

• þegar ég var ekki alveg viss = when I was not quite sure

If the sentence were more hypothetical, doubtful, or dependent on a different kind of structure, you might see the subjunctive væri. But here the speaker is simply stating a fact about how they felt at that time, so var is the expected form.

Þegar means when here and introduces a subordinate clause:

• þegar ég var ekki alveg viss = when I was not quite sure

It tells you when she encouraged the speaker: specifically, at the time when the speaker felt uncertain.

The comma separates two full clauses:

• Ég ætlaði að sækja um starfið
• hún hvatti mig til þess þegar ég var ekki alveg viss

In Icelandic, you will often see a comma when og connects two independent clauses, especially when each clause has its own subject. Punctuation can vary somewhat by style, but this comma is perfectly normal.

No, not definitely.

The sentence says:

• the speaker intended to apply
• she encouraged the speaker to do so
• the speaker was not quite sure at the time

But it does not explicitly say whether the application was actually sent in. To say that clearly, Icelandic would need an additional statement.