Breakdown of Ég veit að seinkunin er ekki löng.
vera
to be
ég
I
ekki
not
langur
long
vita
to know (a fact, information)
að
that (conjunction)
seinkunin
the delay
Questions & Answers about Ég veit að seinkunin er ekki löng.
Since this is a subordinate clause, why doesn't ekki shift to be placed in front of the verb?
In Icelandic, subordinate clauses that start with að (that) are special: they almost always keep the standard "Subject + Verb + ekki" word order of a regular main clause. You only need to shift ekki to the front of the verb in other types of subordinate clauses, such as relative clauses starting with sem.
Why is the word for "long" löng here instead of the dictionary form langur?
Adjectives must match the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe. Seinkunin (the delay) is a feminine noun in the nominative case, so the adjective changes to its feminine singular form, löng.
How is the noun seinkunin built?
It traces back to the adjective seinn (late). This gives us the verb að seinka (to delay), which turns into the feminine noun seinkun (a delay). Finally, the definite article -in is added to the end to make it seinkunin (the delay).
Is veit a regular verb?
No, veit comes from the verb að vita (to know a fact). It belongs to a small group of irregular verbs that don't take a standard ending in the "I" or "he/she/it" forms. The present tense pattern is: ég veit, þú veist, hann/hún/það veit.
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