Breakdown of Ég vildi að ég væri ekki svona sjóveikur.
vera
to be
ég
I
ekki
not
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
að
that (conjunction)
svona
so, like this
sjóveikur
seasick
Questions & Answers about Ég vildi að ég væri ekki svona sjóveikur.
Why is væri used here instead of var?
Væri is the past subjunctive of vera (to be). We use the past subjunctive after ég vildi að (I wish that) to express a hypothetical situation or a wish about the present that isn't true. Because the speaker is currently seasick, wishing they weren't requires this subjunctive form.
Is vildi just the normal past tense of vilja (to want)?
Yes, vildi is from vilja, but in this specific phrase it is the past subjunctive form, which happens to look exactly the same as the normal past tense for this verb. While it literally translates to 'I would want that', it is the standard Icelandic way to express 'I wish'.
Why does the adjective sjóveikur have an -ur ending here?
Does svona just mean 'so' in this context?
Yes. Svona literally means 'like this' or 'in this way', but it is extremely common in everyday Icelandic to use it just like 'so' in English to emphasize an adjective. You will often hear phrases like svona dýrt (so expensive) or svona þreyttur (so tired).
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