Breakdown of Nemandinn vill einbeita sér til að þróa færnina.
nemandinn
the student
að
to (infinitive marker)
vilja
to want (to will, be willing)
til
to
færnin
the skill
einbeita sér
to concentrate
þróa
to develop
Questions & Answers about Nemandinn vill einbeita sér til að þróa færnina.
We already know að means 'to'. Why do we need til að here?
Til að translates to 'in order to' or 'for the purpose of'. While English often just uses 'to' to express purpose (as in 'to develop their skills'), Icelandic uses til að (which is short for til þess að) to specifically show that the second action is the goal of the first action.
Why is the word sér used right after einbeita?
The verb einbeita (to concentrate) is reflexive in Icelandic, meaning you literally have to 'concentrate yourself'. Because the subject doing the action is nemandinn (the student, a third-person subject), the matching reflexive pronoun is sér (himself/herself/themselves).
The English translation says 'their skills', but there is no word for 'their' in the Icelandic sentence. Why?
The word færnina is just færni (skill) with the feminine definite article -na attached, meaning 'the skill'. In Icelandic, when it is obvious from context who owns something (like a personal skill or a body part), you usually just use the definite article instead of adding a possessive word like 'their'.
Why isn't there an að between vill and einbeita?
The verb vilja (to want) acts like a helper or modal verb in Icelandic. Similar to how you say 'I must go' instead of 'I must to go' in English, vilja links directly to the next infinitive verb (einbeita) without needing an að in between.
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