Breakdown of Þessi leikjatölva er mjög dýr. Grafíkin er frábær þó.
vera
to be
mjög
very
dýr
expensive
þessi
this (m/f)
frábær
fantastic
þó
though, nevertheless
leikjatölvan
the game console
grafíkin
the graphics
Questions & Answers about Þessi leikjatölva er mjög dýr. Grafíkin er frábær þó.
I usually see þó or þó að at the beginning of a clause. Is it common to stick þó at the very end like this?
Yes! In everyday spoken Icelandic, placing þó at the absolute end of a sentence is extremely common. It functions exactly like the English sentence-final "though" (meaning "however" or "despite that"). This colloquial trick makes your speech sound very natural and much less formal than setting up a full concessive clause with þó að.
How does the word leikjatölva break down? Why isn't it just leikurtölva?
It is a compound of leikur (game) and tölva (computer). In Icelandic compound nouns, the first word is usually in the genitive (possessive) case. Here, it takes the genitive plural leikja (of games), so the compound literally means "computer of games".
Why do the adjectives dýr and frábær have no endings in this sentence?
Both leikjatölva and grafík are feminine nouns in the nominative singular. For many adjectives, the feminine nominative singular form is identical to the root of the word, meaning it takes zero ending. So dýr (expensive) and frábær (fantastic) are perfectly matched to their nouns just as they are.
Is grafíkin a loanword? Why is it singular here?
Yes, grafík is a loanword and functions as a standard feminine noun. Here it has the suffixed definite article -in attached to make it grafíkin (the graphics). Notice that in Icelandic, we treat this concept as a singular noun, unlike English which uses the plural "graphics".
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