Word
Það er tímafrekt að skrifa góða þýðingu.
Meaning
It is time-consuming to write a good translation.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Það er tímafrekt að skrifa góða þýðingu.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
góður
good
að
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about Það er tímafrekt að skrifa góða þýðingu.
Why does the adjective tímafrekt end in -t here?
It is in the neuter singular form to agree with the placeholder subject það (it). When an infinitive phrase like að skrifa góða þýðingu is the real logical subject of a sentence, we use það to introduce it, and any describing adjectives like tímafrekur must be in the neuter form.
How is the word tímafrekt built?
It is a compound of tíma (from tími, meaning time) and the adjective frekur, which means demanding, greedy, or pushy. So, something that is tímafrekt is literally time-demanding or time-greedy (time-consuming).
Why are we using the form góða þýðingu instead of góð þýðing?
The phrase is the direct object of the verb að skrifa (to write), which requires the accusative case. Þýðing (translation) is a feminine noun, and its accusative singular form is þýðingu. The adjective also changes to góða to match the feminine accusative noun.
Can I avoid using það and just start the sentence with að skrifa?
Yes, grammatically you can say Að skrifa góða þýðingu er tímafrekt. However, putting a long action phrase at the beginning of a sentence feels very heavy. Just like in English, Icelandic strongly prefers using a dummy subject (það) to push the heavy infinitive clause to the end of the sentence.