Ég vona að vináttan okkar verði varanleg.

I hope that our friendship will be lasting.

Breakdown of Ég vona að vináttan okkar verði varanleg.

• ég: I
• verða: to become
• að: that
• okkar: our

Questions & Answers about Ég vona að vináttan okkar verði varanleg.

What does each word in Ég vona að vináttan okkar verði varanleg mean?

A fairly literal breakdown is:

• Ég = I
• vona = hope
• að = that
• vináttan = the friendship
• okkar = our / of us
• verði = be / become in the subjunctive
• varanleg = lasting, enduring, permanent

So the sentence is literally something like:

I hope that the friendship of ours become/be lasting.

In natural English, that becomes I hope our friendship will last or I hope our friendship will be lasting/enduring.

Why is að used after vona?

Að introduces a subordinate clause, like English that.

So:

• Ég vona = I hope
• að vináttan okkar verði varanleg = that our friendship will be lasting

In English, that is often optional: I hope (that) our friendship will last.
In Icelandic, að is normally kept.

Why is it vináttan and not just vinátta?