Breakdown of Vilt þú byggja lítinn píramída?
þú
you
lítill
small / a little (small amount)
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
byggja
to build
píramídinn
the pyramid
Questions & Answers about Vilt þú byggja lítinn píramída?
Why is there no að before the verb byggja?
The verb vilja (to want) acts like an auxiliary or modal verb in Icelandic. Similar to how we say 'must build' instead of 'must to build' in English, verbs like vilja, geta (can), and skulu (shall/will) are followed directly by the infinitive without the particle að.
Why is the word for small lítinn here instead of lítill?
Adjectives in Icelandic must agree with the noun they describe. The noun píramída is the direct object of the sentence, so it is in the accusative case. Because píramídi is a masculine noun, the adjective lítill must change to its masculine accusative form, which is lítinn.
The dictionary form of pyramid is píramídi. Why does it end in -a in this sentence?
Masculine nouns that end in -i are called 'weak' nouns, and they follow a very predictable pattern. Whenever they are in the accusative, dative, or genitive case, the -i changes to an -a. Since the pyramid is the direct object being built, it takes the accusative case here.
I usually hear people say viltu instead of vilt þú. Is there a difference?
They mean exactly the same thing! In spoken Icelandic, a verb ending in a consonant often merges with the pronoun þú, so vilt þú naturally becomes the single word viltu. Writing it out as two separate words, as seen in this sentence, is simply a bit more formal or used when you want to put special emphasis on the word 'you'.
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