Breakdown of Samheldnin er mikilvæg til þess að við náum árangri.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
við
we
til
to
að
that (conjunction)
mikilvægur
important
ná
to reach, to catch (ná + dative)
árangurinn
the result
samheldnin
the cohesion (f)
Questions & Answers about Samheldnin er mikilvæg til þess að við náum árangri.
How does the prefix sam- build the meaning of samheldnin?
The prefix sam- implies "together," "shared," or "co-". Here, it attaches to heldni, a noun derived from the verb halda (to hold). Literally meaning "holding together," samheldni translates beautifully to "cohesion" or "solidarity." The -n at the very end is the attached definite article ("the").
Does the phrase til þess að affect the mood of the verb náum?
Yes, til þess að ("in order to" or "so that") triggers the subjunctive mood in the clause that follows it. The 1st person plural present subjunctive of ná (to achieve/reach) is náum, which happens to look exactly the same as the normal present tense (indicative)! If the subject were "I", you would clearly see the subjunctive form: til þess að ég nái árangri.
Could we just use til að instead of the full phrase til þess að here?
Because "so that" introduces a full clause with a subject (við), you need the full phrase til þess að. If you were dropping the subject and using an infinitive verb, you would shorten it to til að (for example: ...mikilvæg til að ná árangri meaning "...important in order to achieve success").
Why is the word for success, árangur, written as árangri in this sentence?
The verb ná (to reach, catch, or achieve) dictates that the object following it must be in the dative case. Therefore, the nominative árangur changes to the dative árangri.
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