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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hún vill bara smá kaffi. - She only wants a little coffee.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Lesson 47
/Hún vill bara smá kaffi.

Hún vill bara smá kaffi.

Word

Hún vill bara smá kaffi.

Meaning

She only wants a little coffee.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Icelandic

Lesson

Breakdown of Hún vill bara smá kaffi.

Questions & Answers about Hún vill bara smá kaffi.

What does each word in Hún vill bara smá kaffi do?

Hún = she
vill = wants
bara = just / only
smá = a little / some
kaffi = coffee

So the sentence structure is:

subject + verb + adverb + object phrase

That is very normal Icelandic word order for a simple main clause.

Why is it vill and not vilja?

Because vilja is the infinitive, meaning to want. In the sentence, the verb has to match hún = she, so Icelandic uses the 3rd person singular present form:

ég vil = I want
þú vilt = you want
hann / hún / það vill = he / she / it wants

So hún vill means she wants.

Also, vilja is an irregular verb, so its forms are worth memorizing separately.

Why is hún used here?

smá

small

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Hún is the 3rd person singular feminine pronoun, so it means she.

A learner may notice that Icelandic has three genders:

masculine
feminine
neuter

When referring to a woman or girl, hún is the normal pronoun. In other contexts, pronouns can also follow the grammatical gender of nouns, not just natural gender.

In this sentence, though, it simply means she.

What exactly does bara mean here?

Here bara means just or only.

It limits the statement:

she does not want a full meal
she does not want something complicated
she wants only a small amount of coffee

Bara is a very common Icelandic adverb, and its exact English translation depends on context:

just
only
sometimes simply

In this sentence, just / only is the most natural idea.

What kind of word is smá?

Here smá is a very common everyday modifier meaning a little or some.

In this use, it is often treated as an indeclinable word, which means it does not change form for gender, number, or case the way many Icelandic adjectives do.

That is one reason learners notice it: Icelandic usually has lots of agreement, but smá often stays the same.

So in smá kaffi, you can think of it as meaning:

a little coffee
some coffee

Why is it smá kaffi and not something with lítið?

You certainly may also meet lítið kaffi, because lítið is the regular neuter singular form of lítill = small / little.

But smá kaffi is extremely natural in everyday Icelandic and often sounds more idiomatic for a little coffee / some coffee.

A useful rough distinction is:

smá kaffi = very common, conversational, natural
lítið kaffi = also possible, but often feels a bit more literal or formal

So for ordinary spoken Icelandic, smá kaffi is a great phrase to learn.

What case is kaffi in?

Kaffi is the direct object of vill, so it is in the accusative case.

However, the form does not visibly change here. That is because kaffi is a neuter noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative forms are the same:

nominative: kaffi
accusative: kaffi

So even though the case is accusative, the word still looks exactly the same.

Why is there no article, like the coffee or a coffee?

In Icelandic, mass nouns such as coffee often appear without an article when you mean an indefinite amount.

So smá kaffi naturally means:

some coffee
a little coffee

If you wanted the coffee, Icelandic normally uses the suffixed definite article:

kaffið = the coffee

So the sentence does not mean she wants a specific known coffee. It means she wants some amount of coffee.

Why is the word order Hún vill bara smá kaffi?

Because Icelandic main clauses usually follow the verb-second pattern.

That means the finite verb typically comes in the second position of the clause:

Hún = first element
vill = second element

After that, words like bara and the object phrase can follow.

So this sentence has a very standard order:

Hún
vill
bara
smá kaffi

For a beginner, this is a good model sentence to copy.

Does smá kaffi mean a small cup of coffee or just some coffee in general?

Usually it means a small amount of coffee, not necessarily a physically small cup.

That is an important difference:

smá kaffi focuses on quantity
it does not directly describe the size of the container

So the idea is closer to:

just a little coffee
some coffee
only a bit of coffee

The exact interpretation depends on context, but quantity is the main idea.

Could Icelandic also say Hún vill fá smá kaffi?

Yes. Hún vill fá smá kaffi is also a very natural sentence.

Adding fá gives the sense of:

she wants to get some coffee
she would like to have some coffee

Without fá, Hún vill bara smá kaffi is still completely normal. It is shorter and more direct:

she just wants a little coffee

So both are good, but the sentence you were given is perfectly idiomatic Icelandic.

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