Discussing Educational Reform
When proposing updates to the school system, you need strong vocabulary to express your ideas clearly.
| We need to revise the school system. | Við þurfum að endurskoða skólakerfið. |
| We place emphasis on innovation. | Við leggjum áherslu á nýsköpun. |
Adverbs of Addition
To link arguments in formal speech and writing, Icelandic uses adverbial discourse connectives like auk þess and þar að auki ("furthermore", "besides", or "in addition").
| furthermore / besides | þar að auki |
These are highly useful for stacking points or adding supporting evidence to your statements.
The V2 Rule: Subject-Verb Inversion
Icelandic is a V2 (Verb-Second) language, meaning the conjugated verb must be the second grammatical element in a main clause.
Normally, the subject is first (Við þurfum... / "We need..."). However, when you place an adverbial phrase like auk þess or þar að auki at the beginning of a sentence, that phrase occupies the first position. To keep the verb in second place, the subject and verb must swap places.
Notice how við ætlum (we intend) becomes ætlum við after auk þess:
| Furthermore, we intend to modernize the curriculum. | Auk þess ætlum við að nútímavæða námsskrána. |
| Furthermore, we need innovation. | Auk þess þurfum við nýsköpun. |
The same V2 inversion applies to þar að auki. Watch how the verb er (is) jumps before its subject in the following examples:
| Besides, the teaching method is very diverse. | Þar að auki er kennsluaðferðin mjög fjölbreytt. |
| Besides, innovation is actually demanding. | Þar að auki er nýsköpun reyndar krefjandi. |
By mastering this inversion, your spoken and written arguments will flow with native-like naturalness and authority.