Breakdown of Ég set svefninn í forgang þegar ég er stressaður.
ég
I
vera
to be
þegar
when
stressaður
stressed
Questions & Answers about Ég set svefninn í forgang þegar ég er stressaður.
What form is set?
Set is the present tense, 1st person singular form of setja (to put, place, set).
So:
- ég set = I set / I put
- þú setur = you set
- hann/hún/það setur = he/she/it sets
In this sentence, the present tense gives a habitual meaning: I prioritize sleep when I’m stressed.
If you wanted the past, you would say ég setti.
Why is it svefninn and not just svefn?
The ending -inn is the suffixed definite article, so svefninn literally means the sleep.
In Icelandic, abstract nouns are often used with the definite article in places where English would simply say sleep. Here, svefninn can be understood as sleep in the general but personally relevant sense, almost like my sleep / sleep as the important thing in question.
So even though English would not normally say the sleep, Icelandic can.
What case is svefninn, and why?