Breakdown of Við höldum áfram af því að æfingin er skemmtileg.
vera
to be
við
we
skemmtilegur
fun
af því að
because
halda áfram
to continue, keep going (halda áfram)
æfingin
the practice
Questions & Answers about Við höldum áfram af því að æfingin er skemmtileg.
Why is there an ö in höldum when the infinitive is halda?
In the first person plural ("we"), the verb ending is -um. This u ending triggers a very common Icelandic rule called the U-shift, which changes an a in the root of the word to an ö. Because of this, the strong verb halda becomes við höldum.
How do the words höldum áfram translate to "continue"?
The verb halda usually means "to hold" or "to keep", and the adverb áfram means "onward" or "forward". Together, the phrase halda áfram literally means "to keep moving forward," which is the standard way to say "to continue" in Icelandic.
Why are there three words (af því að) just to say "because"?
Icelandic often builds its connecting words out of smaller phrases. Literally, af því að translates to something like "of it that," but it functions as a single chunk meaning "because." At this level, it is best to just memorize these three words together as a set phrase!
Why does the adjective skemmtileg not have an ending like -ur or -t?
Adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe. The noun here is æfing (practice), and nouns ending in -ing are almost always feminine. The dictionary form of the adjective skemmtilegur (fun) is masculine, but its feminine form drops the -ur, leaving just skemmtileg to perfectly match æfingin.
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