Breakdown of Það rignir oft á Íslandi.
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
oft
often
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
Ísland
Iceland
rigna
to rain
Questions & Answers about Það rignir oft á Íslandi.
Why do we use það at the start of this sentence?
Just like in English, Icelandic requires a subject for weather verbs. We use það as a dummy subject to mean 'it' in phrases like 'it rains', even though there is no physical thing doing the raining.
Why does the sentence use á instead of í for 'in Iceland'?
While í usually translates to 'in' and á translates to 'on', Icelandic traditionally uses á with the names of islands. So, you are literally saying that it rains 'on Iceland'.
Why does the word for Iceland have an 'i' at the end (Íslandi)?
The preposition á forces the noun following it to change its form to show location. The base dictionary word is Ísland, but it takes the dative case ending and becomes Íslandi when you are talking about being located there.
Why is the verb rignir instead of rigna?
The word rigna is the infinitive form, meaning 'to rain'. Because we are using the dummy subject það, the verb must be conjugated in the third-person singular to match it, giving us rignir.
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