Ég skil ekki allt.

I do not understand everything.

Breakdown of Ég skil ekki allt.

• ég: I
• ekki: not
• skilja: to understand
• allur: whole

Questions & Answers about Ég skil ekki allt.

What does each word in Ég skil ekki allt mean?

• Ég = I
• skil = understand
• ekki = not
• allt = everything / all of it

So word-for-word, it is roughly I understand not everything, but in natural English that is I don’t understand everything.

Why is skil used here? What is the infinitive?

Skil is the 1st person singular present tense form of the verb að skilja, which means to understand.

A few present-tense forms are:

• ég skil = I understand
• þú skilur = you understand
• hann/hún/það skilur = he/she/it understands

So in this sentence, ég skil means I understand.

Why does ekki come after the verb?

In Icelandic, ekki usually comes after the finite verb in a normal main clause.

So:

• Ég skil ekki allt = correct
• Ég ekki skil allt = not natural/incorrect

This is a very common Icelandic pattern:

• Ég tala ekki íslensku = I do not speak Icelandic
• Hann kemur ekki = He is not coming

English uses do not before the main verb, but Icelandic usually just places ekki after the conjugated verb.