Breakdown of Endurminningin er falleg þó að fortíðin sé erfið.
vera
to be
fallegur
beautiful
erfiður
difficult
fortíðin
the past
þó að
although / even though
endurminningin
the reminiscence (f)
Questions & Answers about Endurminningin er falleg þó að fortíðin sé erfið.
How does the prefix endur- change the meaning of minning here?
Minning simply means a memory. Adding the prefix endur- (meaning re- or again) creates endurminning, which translates closer to reminiscence or recollection. It emphasizes the active process of bringing a memory back to mind, rather than just the static memory itself.
Why do we use the subjunctive sé instead of the indicative er in the second clause?
The conjunction þó að (although / even though) always triggers the subjunctive mood in Icelandic, regardless of whether the statement is a concrete fact. Because the second clause is introduced by þó að, we must use sé, which is the third-person singular present subjunctive form of vera (to be).
Why are both adjectives, falleg and erfið, in their feminine forms?
Adjectives must agree with the gender of the nouns they describe. Both endurminning (reminiscence) and fortíð (past) are feminine nouns. You can easily spot this because they both take the feminine definite article -in at the end (endurminningin, fortíðin). Therefore, they require the feminine nominative adjective forms falleg and erfið.
The word fortíðin also uses a prefix. How is it constructed?
The noun fortíð is built from the prefix for- (meaning pre- or before) and the noun tíð (time or tense). Together they literally mean before-time, which is the Icelandic word for the past. The -in at the end is just the attached definite article.
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