Infinitive Phrases as Subjects
In Icelandic, you can use an entire action as the subject of a sentence, just as you do in English (e.g., "Grinding coffee is important" or "To grind coffee is important"). Form this by starting the sentence with an infinitive phrase: að plus a verb in its dictionary form.
When an infinitive phrase acts as the subject, Icelandic treats the entire phrase as grammatically neuter. This means that any adjective describing the action must take its neuter singular form, which typically ends in -t.
| Grinding the coffee bean well is important. | Að mala kaffibaunina vel er mikilvægt. |
| Choosing a good roast is difficult. | Að velja góða brennslu er erfitt. |
Building Complex Phrases
An infinitive phrase can include objects, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. No matter how long or complex the subject phrase becomes, the describing adjective still defaults to the neuter singular form.
| Tasting this pour-over coffee is interesting. | Að smakka þennan uppáhelling er áhugavert. |
| Analyzing the acidity in the roast is complicated. | Að greina sýrustigið í brennslunni er flókið. |
When describing actions as tricky (vandasamur) or wonderful (dásamlegur), apply the neuter ending to get vandasamt and dásamlegt.
| To brew the coffee is tricky. | Að hella upp á kaffið er vandasamt. |
| To drink good coffee is wonderful. | Að drekka gott kaffi er dásamlegt. |
Expanding the Main Verb
Instead of linking the infinitive subject to its adjective using just er (is), you can use more complex verb phrases like hlýtur að vera (must be) or hefur alltaf verið (has always been). The adjective at the end of the sentence still takes the neuter singular form.
| Evaluating the aftertaste must be fun. | Að meta eftirbragðið hlýtur að vera skemmtilegt. |
| To learn this method has always been tricky. | Að læra þessa aðferð hefur alltaf verið vandasamt. |
