Breakdown of Mér þykir lífshættan á fjallinu alltof mikil.
mér
me (dative)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
fjallið
the mountain
mikill
great, much (adjective)
alltof
way too
þykja
to find (have an opinion)
lífshættan
the mortal danger
Questions & Answers about Mér þykir lífshættan á fjallinu alltof mikil.
Why use mér þykir here instead of mér finnst?
Both þykja and finnast are used to express personal opinions or evaluations, often translating to "I think" or "I feel". They are largely interchangeable in contexts like this, though þykja is slightly more formal or literary.
How does the verb þykja affect the grammar of the rest of the sentence?
Like finnast, þykja takes a dative "experiencer" subject (mér), but the verb and any describing adjectives agree with the nominative object. Here, the adjective mikil is feminine, singular, and nominative because it agrees directly with lífshættan.
Why does "too high" translate to alltof mikil instead of using a word for "high" like há?
In Icelandic, abstract concepts like hætta (danger) and áhætta (risk) are described as being "great" or "much" (mikil), rather than physically "high". Therefore, "high danger" is always phrased as mikil hætta.
What is the difference between using of and alltof?
While of simply means "too" (as in "too much"), alltof literally translates to "all too" and is used as a stronger intensifier meaning "way too" or "far too".
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