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
en
but
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
vinnan
the work
annar
other, another; second
sumur
some (sumir, sumar, sum)
duglegur
hardworking
latur
lazy
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?
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?
In English, we just say 'at work', but Icelandic usually says 'in the work' with the definite article attached to the end of the noun. Here, the preposition í (in) triggers the dative case, so the word vinnan (the work) changes to vinnunni.
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