Breakdown of Ertu til í að fara í göngutúr eftir kvöldmat?
þú
you
fara
to go
kvöldmat
the dinner
eftir
after
Questions & Answers about Ertu til í að fara í göngutúr eftir kvöldmat?
What does Ertu mean, and why is it written as one word?
Ertu is a very common contraction of ert þú.
- ert = are (2nd person singular of vera, to be)
- þú = you
So:
- Ertu ...? = Are you ...?
This is especially common in speech and everyday writing. You could think of it as similar to how English uses contractions naturally in conversation.
The full version would be:
- Ert þú til í að fara í göngutúr eftir kvöldmat?
but Ertu sounds more natural in ordinary speech.
Why does the sentence start with the verb?
Because this is a yes/no question in Icelandic.
In a statement, you would normally have:
- Þú ert til í að fara í göngutúr eftir kvöldmat.
- You are up for going for a walk after dinner.
To make it a yes/no question, Icelandic usually puts the finite verb first:
- Ertu til í að fara í göngutúr eftir kvöldmat?
- Are you up for going for a walk after dinner?
So the verb-first order works a lot like English Are you ...?
What does til í mean here?