Breakdown of Lítil lygi getur sært vináttu sem hefur verið sterk lengi.
vera
to be
lítill
small
geta
to be able
hafa
to have
Questions & Answers about Lítil lygi getur sært vináttu sem hefur verið sterk lengi.
Can you break the sentence down word by word?
Yes:
- Lítil — small / little, adjective
- lygi — lie, noun
- getur — can, 3rd person singular of geta
- sært — hurt / wound, the form used here after getur
- vináttu — friendship, object form of vinátta
- sem — that / which, introducing a relative clause
- hefur verið — has been
- sterk — strong
- lengi — for a long time / long
So the structure is:
Lítil lygi + getur sært + vináttu + sem hefur verið sterk lengi
= A small lie can hurt a friendship that has been strong for a long time.
Why is there no separate word for a in Lítil lygi?
Because Icelandic does not have an indefinite article like English a / an.
So:
- lítil lygi can mean a small lie
- vináttu can mean a friendship in context
Icelandic often uses a bare noun where English needs a or an.