Word
Í janúar, þegar myrkrið er mest, reyni ég að halda áfram að læra á hverjum degi.
Meaning
In January, when the darkness is greatest, I try to keep studying every day.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Í janúar, þegar myrkrið er mest, reyni ég að halda áfram að læra á hverjum degi.
ég
I
vera
to be
dagurinn
the day
á
on
Questions & Answers about Í janúar, þegar myrkrið er mest, reyni ég að halda áfram að læra á hverjum degi.
What does Í janúar mean, and why is í used here?
Í janúar means in January.
The preposition í is commonly used for being in a month, season, or other period of time. So this is the normal way to say in January in Icelandic.
A useful thing to remember is that month names often look unchanged in these expressions, so janúar stays janúar here.
What does þegar mean in this sentence?
Þegar means when.
It introduces a subordinate clause:
þegar myrkrið er mest = when the darkness is greatest / when it is darkest
So the sentence structure is basically:
- Í janúar = time setting
- þegar myrkrið er mest = a when-clause giving more detail
- reyni ég... = the main clause
Why is it myrkrið and not just myrkur?
Myrkrið is the definite form of myrkur, so it means the darkness.
Icelandic often uses the definite form when talking about something understood in the situation or something treated as a general phenomenon. Here it refers to the winter darkness in January, so the darkness sounds natural.
- myrkur = darkness
- myrkrið = the darkness