Learn Icelandic: Þau skemmta sér mjög vel í veislunni. - They have a lot of fun at the party.

Þau skemmta sér mjög vel í veislunni.

They have a lot of fun at the party.

Breakdown of Þau skemmta sér mjög vel í veislunni.

in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)

Questions & Answers about Þau skemmta sér mjög vel í veislunni.

Why does the sentence use sér to mean "themselves"?

To say "have fun" in Icelandic, you use the verb skemmta, which literally means "to entertain." So, they are "entertaining themselves." The verb skemmta always forces the pronoun that follows it into the dative case. The dative form of the third-person reflexive pronoun (sig) is sér.

Since þau (they) is plural, why doesn't sér change to a plural form?

In Icelandic, the third-person reflexive pronouns (sig, sér, sín) are used for both singular and plural. They never change form based on how many people are involved. Sér works equally well for "himself," "herself," "itself," and "themselves."

Why is "a lot of fun" translated as mjög vel?

Because the sentence literally says they are "entertaining themselves," you cannot use a noun like "fun." Instead, you use adverbs to describe how they are doing it. Mjög vel means "very well." So, "having a lot of fun" is naturally expressed as "entertaining themselves very well."

Why is the word for party veislunni here?