Learn Icelandic: Í vinnunni eru sumir duglegir en aðrir eru latir. - At work, some are hardworking, but others are lazy.

Í vinnunni eru sumir duglegir en aðrir eru latir.

At work, some are hardworking, but others are lazy.

Breakdown of Í vinnunni eru sumir duglegir en aðrir eru latir.

vera

to be

but

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

vinnan

the work

Questions & Answers about Í vinnunni eru sumir duglegir en aðrir eru latir.

Why are sumir and aðrir in the masculine form here if we don't know the exact gender of the workers?

In Icelandic, when you talk about people in general or a mixed group of men and women, you use the masculine plural form as the default. That is why we use the masculine sumir and aðrir instead of the feminine or neuter versions.

Do the adjectives duglegir and latir have to match sumir and aðrir?

Yes! Since sumir (some) and aðrir (others) are acting as the subjects of the sentence, the adjectives describing them must match their gender, number, and case. Because the pronouns are masculine, plural, and in the nominative case, the base adjectives duglegur and latur take the masculine plural endings to become duglegir and latir.

Why does the sentence say eru sumir instead of sumir eru right after Í vinnunni?

This is because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. In Icelandic, the main verb almost always has to be the second piece of information in the sentence. Since the phrase Í vinnunni (At work) takes up the first slot, the verb eru (are) must come next, pushing the subject sumir (some) into the third spot.

Why is it vinnunni and not just vinnu?