Smá hvatning frá vinkonu getur breytt erfiðum degi.

the day

Breakdown of Smá hvatning frá vinkonu getur breytt erfiðum degi.

• frá: from
• erfiður: difficult
• vinkonan: the (female) friend

Questions & Answers about Smá hvatning frá vinkonu getur breytt erfiðum degi.

Why is there no separate word for a in this sentence?

Icelandic does not have an indefinite article like English a/an. So a bare singular noun can already mean a or an, depending on context.

• smá hvatning = a little encouragement
• frá vinkonu = from a friend
• erfiðum degi = a difficult day

If Icelandic wants to say the, it usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun, for example vinkonan = the female friend.

What does smá mean here, and why doesn’t it change its ending?

Here smá means a little, a bit of, or some. So smá hvatning is best understood as a little encouragement.

In modern everyday Icelandic, smá is very often used as an indeclinable modifier, so it does not change for gender, number, or case. That is why it stays smá even though hvatning is feminine singular nominative.

So this is a very natural phrase:

• smá hvatning = a little encouragement

What case is hvatning, and why?