Breakdown of Sveigjanleikinn er mikill, en vinnuálagið er stundum of mikið.
vera
to be
en
but
stundum
sometimes
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
of
too
sveigjanleikinn
the flexibility
vinnuálagið
the workload
Questions & Answers about Sveigjanleikinn er mikill, en vinnuálagið er stundum of mikið.
Why does the adjective for "great/heavy" appear as both mikill and mikið in the same sentence?
In Icelandic, adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they describe. Sveigjanleikinn (the flexibility) is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine form mikill. On the other hand, vinnuálagið (the workload) is a neuter noun, so it requires the neuter form mikið.
How exactly is the compound noun vinnuálagið formed?
It is made from vinna (work) and álag (load, stress). When linking nouns to form a compound in Icelandic, the first word often takes its genitive (possessive) form. The genitive of the feminine noun vinna is vinnu, which gives us vinnuálag. The -ið at the end is simply the neuter definite article attached to the noun.
This lesson covers eigin (own). How would I change the second half of the sentence to say "my own workload is sometimes too heavy"?
You would say "mitt eigin vinnuálag er stundum of mikið". Because vinnuálag is neuter, the possessive pronoun must take its neuter form, mitt. The adjective eigin is invariable, meaning it stays exactly the same no matter the gender, number, or case of the noun it modifies.
The word for "sometimes" is stundum. Is the -um ending related to the dative plural?
Yes, exactly! Stundum is originally the dative plural form of the noun stund (a while, a moment, a time). So literally, it means "at times." In Icelandic, it is very common for dative plural nouns to become fossilized into standalone adverbs like this.
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