Word
Það sem varðar okkur er kolefnið og losunin.
Meaning
What concerns us is carbon and emissions.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Það sem varðar okkur er kolefnið og losunin.
vera
to be
og
and
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
okkur
us
Questions & Answers about Það sem varðar okkur er kolefnið og losunin.
Why do we use Það sem here instead of Hvað for the word 'What'?
In English, we use 'what' both for asking questions and for making statements like this one. Icelandic is stricter: hvað is used for actual questions, while það sem (literally 'that which') is used to create these abstract pseudo-cleft clauses. You are literally saying 'That which concerns us is...'
Since Það sem introduces two things (kolefnið and losunin), why is the verb er singular?
The main verb er agrees with the grammatical subject of the sentence, which is the singular pronoun Það. Even though the predicate lists multiple things later on, the core structure is simply 'That is...' (Það er...), so the verb stays singular.
Why do kolefnið and losunin have definite articles attached, while the English translation just says 'carbon' and 'emissions'?
Icelandic uses the definite article much more frequently than English for abstract concepts, substances, or general categories. When talking about carbon or emissions as broad environmental topics, Icelandic treats them as specific known concepts, hence kolefnið (the carbon) and losunin (the emission).
The English translation says 'emissions', but isn't losunin singular?