Breakdown of Þegar það er logn og aðeins skýjað, finnst mér best að ganga heim eftir tónleika.
Questions & Answers about Þegar það er logn og aðeins skýjað, finnst mér best að ganga heim eftir tónleika.
Why does the sentence start with Þegar, and why is the word order finnst mér instead of mér finnst after the comma?
Þegar means when and introduces a subordinate clause: Þegar það er logn og aðeins skýjað.
In Icelandic, the main clause usually follows verb-second word order. That means the finite verb comes in the second slot of the main clause. Since the whole Þegar... clause takes the first slot, the main verb finnst comes next:
- Þegar ... , finnst mér best ...
Not:
- Þegar ... , mér finnst best ...
This is a very common pattern in Icelandic:
- Þegar ég kem, fer ég heim.
- Ef það rignir, verð ég inni.
So the word order here is completely normal.
Why is það used in það er logn?
Here það works like the it in English weather expressions such as it is cold or it is windy. It does not refer to a specific thing; it is just a grammatical subject.
So:
- það er logn = literally it is calm
- það er skýjað = it is cloudy
This is one of the standard ways Icelandic talks about weather.
What exactly is logn?
Logn means calm weather or no wind.
It is a noun, not an adjective in this expression. So Icelandic says:
- það er logn = literally there is calm / it is calm
This is a bit different from English, which often prefers an adjective like calm or still. In Icelandic, weather is often described with set expressions like this.
Why is it skýjað and not skýjaður, skýjuð, or something similar?
Skýjað is the neuter singular form, and that is the form often used in impersonal weather expressions.
Compare:
- það er kalt = it is cold
- það er dimmt = it is dark
- það er skýjað = it is cloudy
You can think of this as either:
- agreeing with an unstated neuter idea like veður (weather), or
- simply the normal default form used in weather expressions.
So skýjað is exactly the form you would expect here.
What does aðeins mean in this sentence?
Aðeins often means only, just, or a little. In this sentence it softens the weather description:
- aðeins skýjað = only slightly cloudy, a bit cloudy, or just cloudy
So the idea is not that the sky is heavily overcast, but that it is just somewhat cloudy.
How does mér finnst work? Why is it mér and not ég?
This is a very important Icelandic pattern.
Að finnast often means to seem, to feel, or to think in the sense of personal impression.
So:
- mér finnst = literally to me it seems
- very naturally: I think / I feel
The person who experiences the opinion or feeling is put in the dative case, so Icelandic uses:
- mér finnst = I think / it seems to me
- þér finnst = you think / it seems to you
- honum finnst = he thinks / it seems to him
This is different from the ordinary verb að finna, which means to find or to feel physically in other contexts.
A helpful comparison:
- Ég finn lykilinn. = I find the key.
- Mér finnst þetta gott. = I think this is good / This seems good to me.
Why is it best að ganga? Why not some other form?
The pattern mér finnst best að + infinitive means I think it is best to...
So:
- mér finnst best að ganga heim = I think it is best to walk home
A few useful points:
- best is the superlative form here: best
- Icelandic commonly uses að + infinitive after expressions like this
- the idea is not I walk best, but it seems best to me to walk
Related patterns:
- Mér finnst gott að synda. = I think it is nice to swim.
- Mér finnst betra að bíða. = I think it is better to wait.
- Mér finnst best að fara núna. = I think it is best to go now.
Why is it ganga heim and not something like ganga til heimilis or ganga að heim?
In Icelandic, heim is a very common adverb meaning home / homeward with verbs of motion.
So you say:
- fara heim = go home
- koma heim = come home
- ganga heim = walk home
No preposition is needed.
This is different from heima, which means at home:
- Ég er heima. = I am at home.
- Ég fer heim. = I go home.
So:
- heim = movement toward home
- heima = location at home
Why is it eftir tónleika? And why is tónleika plural?
There are two things going on here.
1. Tónleikar is a plural-only noun in Icelandic.
Even when English says a concert, Icelandic often uses the plural form tónleikar.
So:
- tónleikar = a concert / concerts, depending on context
- tónleikarnir = the concert / the concerts
This is similar to how English has words like scissors, which are grammatically plural even when referring to one item.
2. After eftir meaning after in time, Icelandic uses the accusative here, so tónleikar becomes tónleika.
So:
- eftir tónleika = after a concert / after concerts
- eftir tónleikana = after the concert / after the concerts
In this sentence, the meaning is probably general or habitual: after concerts, in general, the speaker likes walking home.
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