Breakdown of Mér er illt í hálsinum.
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
hálsinn
the neck, the throat
illt
unwell, painful (as in "my ... hurts")
Questions & Answers about Mér er illt í hálsinum.
Why does the sentence start with "Mér" instead of "Ég"?
This is an impersonal expression. In Icelandic, when you talk about experiencing pain, you don't say "I am in pain", but rather "To me is bad". The person experiencing the feeling is put in the dative case, so ég becomes mér.
Why is the adjective "illur" in the neuter form "illt"?
Why doesn't the sentence use a word for "my" before throat?
In English we say "my throat", but Icelandic generally uses the definite article (the "the" ending) when talking about body parts. So hálsinum literally means "the throat". Because you already said mér (to me) at the start, it is obvious whose throat is hurting!
Why is "háls" (throat) in the dative case here?
The preposition í (in) forces the following noun into the dative case when it describes a fixed location. Since the pain is located in the throat, the masculine noun háls changes to its dative definite form, hálsinum.
Learn Mér er illt í hálsinum and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free