Það var hrein heppni að hún fann símann sinn undir sætinu.

It was pure luck that she found her phone under the seat.

Breakdown of Það var hrein heppni að hún fann símann sinn undir sætinu.

• vera: to be
• það: it
• hún: she
• finna: to find

Questions & Answers about Það var hrein heppni að hún fann símann sinn undir sætinu.

Why does the sentence start with það var?

Here það works like English dummy it in It was pure luck... It does not refer to a specific object.

So the pattern is:

Það var + noun phrase + að-clause

In this sentence:

Það var hrein heppni að ...
= It was pure luck that ...

If Icelandic used þetta instead, it would mean something more like this, which is not the idea here.

Why is it hrein heppni and not hreina heppni?

Because heppni is the complement of var and is in the nominative case here. The adjective has to match it.

• heppni = feminine singular nominative
• hrein = feminine singular nominative form of hreinn

So:

hrein heppni = pure luck

If the noun were in the accusative, you would expect hreina instead.

This phrase is also idiomatic: hrein heppni is a very natural way to say pure luck.

What does að mean here?