Question 1

Why does the sentence use eða (or) when the English translation says "sometimes clearly and sometimes vaguely"?

Accepted Answer

The correlative pair ýmist ... eða literally means "alternately [A] or [B]". While English naturally links repeated instances of "sometimes" with "and", Icelandic frames this shifting state as a toggle between two options. You must always pair ýmist with eða.

Question 2

skýrt and óljóst end in -t. Are they neuter adjectives agreeing with leiftrið (the flash), or are they adverbs?

Accepted Answer

They function as adverbs here, describing how one sees (sér) the flash. In Icelandic, forming an adverb of manner is very straightforward: it is almost always identical to the neuter singular form of the adjective. So the adjective skýr (clear) simply becomes the adverb skýrt (clearly).

Question 3

Is Það er... sem... a common sentence structure in Icelandic?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this is called a cleft sentence, and it works exactly as it does in English. By saying Það er leiftrið sem... (It is the flash that...) rather than just "One sees the flash...", the speaker places special emphasis on the flash itself.

Question 4

A quick refresher: why is maður translated as "one" instead of "a man"?

Accepted Answer

While maður literally means "man" or "person", it serves as the most common impersonal pronoun in Icelandic. It functions exactly like the English general "you" or formal "one" (as in "the flash that you see"). Because it is grammatically a third-person singular noun, it takes the third-person singular verb sér.

Það er leiftrið sem maður sér ýmist skýrt eða óljóst.

Breakdown of Það er leiftrið sem maður sér ýmist skýrt eða óljóst.

Questions & Answers about Það er leiftrið sem maður sér ýmist skýrt eða óljóst.

Learn Það er leiftrið sem maður sér ýmist skýrt eða óljóst and more in Icelandic