Breakdown of Það er frábært hvernig hver og einn tjáir sig.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
hvernig
how
sig
himself/herself/themselves (acc)
frábær
fantastic
hver og einn
each and every one
tjá
to express
Questions & Answers about Það er frábært hvernig hver og einn tjáir sig.
Why is hver og einn in the masculine form if it refers to people in general?
In Icelandic, the masculine singular is the default grammatical gender used when referring to a general, unspecified person or a mixed group. Even though the English phrase each and every one could include anyone, hver og einn remains masculine here. If you were talking specifically about a group of women, it would change to the feminine hver og ein.
The English translation uses the plural themselves. Why does Icelandic use the singular verb tjáir?
English often uses the singular they or themselves for an unspecified person, but Icelandic strictly follows the grammatical number of the subject. Because hver og einn is grammatically singular, the verb tjá must take the third-person singular form tjáir.
Why do we need the word sig after the verb?
The verb tjá means to express in a broad sense, like expressing a thought or a message. To say that someone expresses their own personality or identity, you use it as a reflexive verb: að tjá sig. The reflexive pronoun sig connects the action back to the subject. Without it, the sentence would sound incomplete, as if they were expressing something else but you forgot to mention what.
Why does the adjective frábær take the neuter form frábært in this sentence?
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