Það eru aðeins tveir dagar síðan húsvörðurinn hreinsaði stigaganginn.

to be

Breakdown of Það eru aðeins tveir dagar síðan húsvörðurinn hreinsaði stigaganginn.

• dagurinn: the day
• það: it
• hreinsa: to clean

Questions & Answers about Það eru aðeins tveir dagar síðan húsvörðurinn hreinsaði stigaganginn.

Why does the sentence start with Það eru instead of Það er?

Because the real subject is tveir dagar (two days), which is plural, so the verb agrees with it: eru.

In Icelandic, það here is a dummy subject, similar to there or it in English. A very literal structure is:

• Það eru tveir dagar... = There are two days...

But in natural English, this becomes something like It has been two days...

So the plural eru is used because dagar is plural.

What exactly is það doing here?

Það is not referring to a specific thing. It is just filling the subject position, much like English it in:

• It is raining
• It has been two days

This kind of það is very common in Icelandic with weather, existence, time expressions, and similar patterns.

Why is it tveir dagar and not some other form of two?

Because dagur (day) is a masculine noun, and here it is in the nominative plural.

The numeral two changes form depending on gender and case:

• masculine: tveir
• feminine: tvær
• neuter: tvö

Since dagar is masculine plural nominative, the correct form is tveir.