Breakdown of Við skulum efna heitið, hvort sem það er auðvelt eða erfitt.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
við
we
eða
or
sem
who / which / that
erfiður
difficult
hvort
whether
auðveldur
easy
skulu
to shall / to promise to
efna
to fulfill (a promise)
heitið
the vow
Questions & Answers about Við skulum efna heitið, hvort sem það er auðvelt eða erfitt.
How does the structure hvort sem ... eða work in this sentence?
It introduces a concessive clause, meaning the main action will happen regardless of the condition. In Icelandic, hvort sem acts as a subordinating conjunction, so the clause follows normal subject-verb order with það er rather than using inverted word order.
I recognize efni as the noun for material. What does the verb efna mean here?
As a verb, efna means to fulfill, keep, or carry out. It is very commonly paired with words for promises or commitments, like efna loforð (to keep a promise) or, in this case, efna heitið (to fulfill the vow).
Why do auðvelt and erfitt both end in -t?
They are in the neuter singular form because they describe the pronoun það (it). This pronoun refers back to heitið (the vow), which comes from the neuter noun heit.
Why isn't there an að before the verb efna?
The verb skulu (here conjugated as við skulum) is a modal verb meaning shall, let's, or must. Just like in English, it takes a bare infinitive, meaning the following verb drops the infinitive marker að.
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