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Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna. - This pronoun is easy to remember.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Lesson 64
/Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.

Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.

Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.

This pronoun is easy to remember.

Breakdown of Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.

Questions & Answers about Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.

Why is it þetta and not þessi?

Because fornafn is a neuter noun, and the demonstrative has to agree with it.

The Icelandic word for this changes for gender and case:

þessi = masculine/feminine nominative singular
þetta = neuter nominative singular

So:

þetta fornafn = this pronoun
not þessi fornafn

Agreement is very important in Icelandic, much more than in English.

What gender is fornafn, and how can I tell?

Fornafn is neuter.

You often just have to learn a noun’s gender with the word, but here there is also a helpful clue: the second part, nafn (name), is a neuter noun, and compounds built on it are often neuter too.

So when you learn fornafn, it is best to remember it as:

fornafn — a neuter noun

That is why the sentence uses:

þetta fornafn
auðvelt

both in neuter singular form.

Why is the adjective auðvelt ending in -t?

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Because it agrees with the subject þetta fornafn, which is neuter singular.

The adjective auðveldur means easy, but its form changes by gender:

auðveldur = masculine
auðveld = feminine
auðvelt = neuter

Since fornafn is neuter, Icelandic uses:

Þetta fornafn er auðvelt

So the -t ending is not random; it shows neuter singular agreement.

What does að muna mean grammatically here?

Að muna is the infinitive, meaning to remember.

The word að is the usual infinitive marker, similar to English to in many situations.

So:

muna = remember
að muna = to remember

In this sentence, að muna goes with auðvelt:

auðvelt að muna = easy to remember

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic:

er erfitt að skilja = is hard to understand
er gott að lesa = is good to read
er auðvelt að muna = is easy to remember

Why can þetta fornafn be the subject if it is really the thing being remembered?

This is the same kind of structure as English This pronoun is easy to remember.

Even though this pronoun is the thing you remember, it is still the grammatical subject of the whole sentence:

Þetta fornafn = subject
er = is
auðvelt = easy
að muna = to remember

So the sentence works like an English easy-to-remember construction. You do not need an extra object after muna, because it is already understood from the subject.

You can think of it as:

This pronoun is easy [for someone] to remember.

Is þetta fornafn nominative or accusative here?

In this sentence, it is nominative, because it is the subject of er.

However, there is a useful detail: for many neuter words, nominative and accusative look the same. So the form þetta fornafn could also appear as an object elsewhere without changing shape.

Compare:

Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.
Here it is the subject, so nominative.
Það er auðvelt að muna þetta fornafn.
Here it is the object of muna.

The form looks the same, but the grammatical role is different.

Could I also say Það er auðvelt að muna þetta fornafn?

Yes. That is also a natural Icelandic sentence.

It means essentially the same thing, but the structure is different:

Þetta fornafn er auðvelt að muna.
Focuses first on this pronoun.
Það er auðvelt að muna þetta fornafn.
Starts with it is easy to remember..., more like a general statement.

So both are possible. The version you were given is useful because it shows a very common Icelandic pattern where the noun being described comes first.

Why is there no definite ending on fornafn?

Because þetta already gives the meaning this pronoun.

In Icelandic, you normally do not combine a demonstrative like þetta with the suffixed definite article in the way English uses this plus the.

So:

fornafn = pronoun
fornafnið = the pronoun
þetta fornafn = this pronoun

That is why plain fornafn is correct after þetta.

Is er auðvelt að... a common pattern I should learn?

Yes, absolutely. It is a very useful pattern.

You can use it with many adjectives:

Þessi bók er auðveld að lesa. = This book is easy to read.
Þetta orð er erfitt að bera fram. = This word is hard to pronounce.
Þessi regla er góð að kunna. = This rule is good to know.

So the model is:

[noun phrase] + er + adjective + að + infinitive

In your sentence:

Þetta fornafn
- er
  - auðvelt
    - að muna

Learning this pattern will help you build many natural Icelandic sentences.

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