Word
Enginn hagar sér eins og hann sé brjálaður.
Meaning
Nobody behaves as if they're crazy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Enginn hagar sér eins og hann sé brjálaður.
vera
to be
hann
he
enginn
no one / nobody / no (m/f)
eins og
as / like / as if
Questions & Answers about Enginn hagar sér eins og hann sé brjálaður.
Why do we use the subjunctive sé here instead of the regular er?
When eins og means "as if" and describes a hypothetical or unreal situation, it triggers the subjunctive mood. Since the person isn't actually crazy, we use sé (the present subjunctive of vera) instead of the indicative er.
The English translation uses "they", so why does the Icelandic sentence use hann (he)?
What is the role of sér in hagar sér?
It belongs to the reflexive verb að haga sér, which means "to behave". Sér is the third-person reflexive pronoun matching the subject enginn. It works a bit like saying "Nobody conducts themselves".
Why does the adjective brjálaður end in -ur?
Adjectives must agree with the noun or pronoun they describe. Because brjálaður (crazy) describes hann, which is masculine and singular, the adjective takes the masculine singular nominative ending -ur.