Breakdown of Það er nauðsynlegt að lesa eitthvað til að auka orðaforðann.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
to (infinitive marker)
lesa
to read
til
to
eitthvað
something
auka
to increase
nauðsynlegur
necessary
orðaforðinn
the vocabulary
Questions & Answers about Það er nauðsynlegt að lesa eitthvað til að auka orðaforðann.
Why is the adjective nauðsynlegt in the neuter form?
In this sentence, the real subject is the action of reading (að lesa eitthvað). Because an infinitive phrase doesn't have a grammatical gender, Icelandic uses the placeholder subject það and puts the describing adjective (nauðsynlegt) into the neuter singular form.
Could I move the phrase að lesa eitthvað to the start of the sentence instead of using það?
Yes, grammatically you could say Að lesa eitthvað er nauðsynlegt (To read something is necessary). However, using the anticipatory subject það (it) and delaying the heavy infinitive phrase until after the adjective is much more natural in everyday Icelandic.
Why do we need til before að auka?
Using til að before an infinitive translates to 'in order to'. If you just wrote að auka, it would merely mean 'to build'. Adding til clarifies the purpose, showing that building vocabulary is the exact reason for reading.
How does the word orðaforðann break down?
It is a compound of orða (meaning 'of words') and forði (meaning 'supply' or 'stash'). So, a 'supply of words'! Here it has the definite article attached (-nn) and is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb auka (to increase).
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