Í janúar er oft kaldast á morgnana.

to be

Breakdown of Í janúar er oft kaldast á morgnana.

• í: in
• á: in
• oft: often

Questions & Answers about Í janúar er oft kaldast á morgnana.

Why isn’t there a word for it in this sentence?

In Icelandic, general statements like weather or temperature often use a dummy subject such as það, but when another element is placed first, that dummy það is often left out.

So this sentence can be understood as something like:

Það er oft kaldast á morgnana í janúar.

But when Í janúar is moved to the front, Icelandic normally just says:

Í janúar er oft kaldast á morgnana.

So English needs it, but Icelandic often does not.

Why does er come right after Í janúar?

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

That means:

• one element comes first
• the finite verb comes second

Here:

• Í janúar = first element
• er = second element

So the order is natural Icelandic word order. If you start the sentence with a time phrase, the verb still has to stay in second position.

What exactly is kaldast?

Kaldast is the superlative form of kaldur (cold).

A simple way to think of the forms is:

• kaldur = cold
• kaldari = colder
• = coldest