Enginn vill deyja.

to want

Breakdown of Enginn vill deyja.

• enginn: no one
• deyja: to die

Questions & Answers about Enginn vill deyja.

What does enginn mean here?

Here enginn means no one or nobody.

It is a negative pronoun, so Icelandic does not need a separate word like not in this sentence. In other words:

• Enginn vill deyja. = No one wants to die.

Compare that with English, where you also use a negative subject: Nobody wants to die.

Why is it enginn and not some other form like engin or ekkert?

Enginn changes form for gender, number, and case.

In this sentence it is the subject, so it is in the nominative singular. The form enginn is the masculine nominative singular form.

That masculine singular form is very often used when referring to no one in a general sense, especially when no specific person or noun is named.

Related forms include:

• enginn — masculine
• engin — feminine
• ekkert — neuter

So if you are talking generally about people, enginn is a very normal form to see.

Why is vill singular if the meaning is about all people?