Breakdown of Sturtan er mjög góð þegar mér er kalt.
vera
to be
góður
good
mjög
very
mér
me (dative)
kaldur
cold
þegar
when
sturtan
the shower
Questions & Answers about Sturtan er mjög góð þegar mér er kalt.
Why does the sentence use mér er kalt instead of ég er kaldur or ég er köld?
For experiencing temperature, Icelandic uses an impersonal construction. Instead of saying "I am cold", you literally say "to me is cold". That is why you use the dative pronoun mér (to me) instead of the normal subject pronoun ég (I).
If I am a woman speaking, shouldn't kalt match my gender?
No, because in the phrase mér er kalt, the pronoun mér isn't the grammatical subject. Because there is no real subject to agree with, the adjective always defaults to the neuter singular form, which is kalt.
Why is the first adjective góð but the second one is kalt?
Could I use hvenær instead of þegar to say "when"?
No, hvenær is only used for asking questions, like "When are you taking a shower?". To connect two parts of a statement like this (meaning "at the time that"), you always use the conjunction þegar.
Learn Sturtan er mjög góð þegar mér er kalt and more in Icelandic
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free