Word
Uppskeran verður miklu stærri ef þið haldið áfram að vinna!
Meaning
The harvest will be much larger if you continue to work!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Uppskeran verður miklu stærri ef þið haldið áfram að vinna!
stór
big
þið
you (plural)
að
to (infinitive marker)
vinna
to work (general labor, to do work)
Questions & Answers about Uppskeran verður miklu stærri ef þið haldið áfram að vinna!
How does the phrase for "continue to work" work in this sentence?
The phrase uses halda áfram (to continue or keep going) followed by the infinitive marker að and the verb vinna (to work). Because the subject is þið (you, plural), the main verb halda is conjugated as haldið. Notice that Icelandic uses að plus the infinitive where English often uses an "-ing" word like "keep working".
Why is it miklu stærri instead of mikið stærri?
When you emphasize a comparative adjective like stærri (larger), the word for "much" must be in the dative case. The dative form of mikið is miklu. This is a strict rule in Icelandic: when stating exactly how much bigger, older, or faster something is, you use the dative case for the measurement word.
Why does the sentence use verður for "will be" rather than a future tense of vera (to be)?
The verb verða literally means "to become," and it is the standard, most natural way to express the future state of "to be" in everyday Icelandic. While you could technically use the helper verb "mun" to say mun vera, using verður is much more common for describing a state that will happen or become true later.
Is the ending on haldið specific to the pronoun þið?