Breakdown of Það snjóar í kvöld.
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
kvöldið
the evening
snjóa
to snow
Questions & Answers about Það snjóar í kvöld.
Why do we use það at the start of this sentence?
Just like in English, Icelandic uses það (it) as a "dummy subject" for weather expressions. The verb snjóar needs a subject to attach to, even though there isn't a physical "it" actually doing the snowing.
The English translation says "is snowing". Why doesn't the Icelandic sentence have a word for "is"?
Icelandic doesn't have a separate "is doing" (continuous) tense like English does. The single present tense verb snjóar covers both "snows" and "is snowing".
How does í kvöld mean "tonight"?
Literally, the phrase translates to "in evening" (í means in, kvöld means evening). Icelandic frequently uses í plus a time word to talk about specific parts of the day, so í kvöld is the standard way to say "this evening" or "tonight".
I learned earlier that það means "that". Is it the same word here?
Yes, it is the exact same word! Það is very versatile and can mean "it", "that", or "there" depending on the context. When paired with a weather verb like snjóar, it is acting as the dummy pronoun "it".