# Icelandic: ef hægt er



## Alxmrphi

Komdu sæl 

Ég á spurningu um orðin '*ef hægt er*'..
Það er æfing þar sem ég verð að skrifa þýðanda á ensku, þvisar ég hef séð "*er hægt er*", en ég skrifaði "_ef það er hægt_" (bókstaflega frá ensku).

Spurning mín er.... er réttur að nota bókstaflegu þýðandann? (og nota 'það', og líka breyta röðinni orða?)

I only want to know if the other option is actually wrong, or if it is just not preferred to the part in bold.
(Corrections to the Icelandic welcome )


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## Pont neuf

Alxmrphi said:


> Komdu sæl
> Ég á spurningu um orðin '*ef hægt er*'.. Ég er með spurningu um - ég hefi eina aspurningu um, don´t say: ég á spurningu
> Það er æfing þar sem ég verð að skrifa þýðanda  *þýðingu* á ensku, því að ég hef séð "*er hægt er*", en ég skrifaði "_ef það er hægt_" (bókstaflega frá ensku).
> 
> Spurning mín er.... er réttur að nota bókstaflegu þýðandann? (og nota 'það', og líka breyta röðinni orða?) er rétt að nota beina þýðingu
> 
> I only want to know if the other option is actually wrong, or if it is just not preferred to the part in bold.
> (Corrections to the Icelandic welcome )


Hello. Since you asked for corrections, I provide some, but would not do so unless prompted. I don´t expect your Icelandic to be perfect, and you manage quite well to write what you want to say in the language, some minor errors are just a normal part of the learning process. 

OK, for the English If possible, you correctly say ef það er hægt or ef hægt er, the latter would often be preferable as better usage. I will give you some related examples if that is OK.

Ef það er hægt, if possible
Ef hægt er, if possible
Svo framarlega sem það er hægt means the same thing
Ef það er mögulegt can also be used, same meaning but does not have the same edge to it.
Svo framarlega sem það er mögulegt / svo framarlega sem mögulegt er means something like as far as that is possible.

Þetta er nú ekki hægt: this can mean two things, first that 'this is not possible' or ´this cannot be done´etc, and a second meaning is an exclamation of shock or surprise at the indecent or improper behavior of another person, an institution or a group of persons.

Hope you find this useful.


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## Alxmrphi

> Hello. Since you asked for corrections, I provide some, but would not do so unless prompted. I don´t expect your Icelandic to be perfect, and you manage quite well to write what you want to say in the language, some minor errors are just a normal part of the learning process.



Thank you!
Ok, I am glad both are possible, but I will try to remember the preference, when I got to marking my own exercise it only had that possibility and I didn't know if I would have been wrong to write what I did, but now I know that *bein þýðing* would work.
I can't believe I was using þýðandi instead of þýðing! I know the -andi endings are usually for people! 

I'm also beginning to distinguish the short-term / long-term aspects of possession in Icelandic, using *að vera með* for more temporary things, I saw someone correct a comment on YouTube about someone's voice, they wrote _Hún er með fallega rödd_ and it was corrected to_ Hún á fallega rödd_, or something similar... 
Also with a distinction in clothes, like for more minute things that don't exactly count as clothing you use this expression with.

So when you said_ ég á spurningu _doesn't work but I should use_ ég er með spurningu _(um) instead, this seemed to be another time where a more short-term idea was being used with this expression, and for an expression like "I have a car" you'd use* eiga *because it's more long-term. This is just my reasoning so far, I was happy with it until I saw in the dictionary an example "_Hún er með fallegt hár_" (She has beautiful hair) which seems to ruin my reasoning pretty well. Am I close with my thoughts on this subject??

Your other examples along with the English are great, I learned "svo framarlega sem" (provided that...) and the others make sense, it's good when you can get a feel for _preferences_ in a language and you know when other options are available..



> Þetta er nú ekki hægt: this can mean two things, first that 'this is not possible' or ´this cannot be done´etc, and a second meaning is an exclamation of shock or surprise at the indecent or improper behavior of another person, an institution or a group of persons.



If I heard this I would probably be scratching my head for a few minutes so thank you for this, along with its meanings of _slow, easy, convenient, quiet_ I think I'm beginning to feel like I fully understand *hægur *



> Hope you find this useful.


I really really did!


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## Silver_Biscuit

Pont neuf said:


> Hello. Since you asked for corrections, I provide some, but would not do so unless prompted. I don´t expect your Icelandic to be perfect, and you manage quite well to write what you want to say in the language, some minor errors are just a normal part of the learning process.


 
I know this has nothing to do with the question, but I just wanted to say, for future reference, that if I write something in Icelandic and it has mistakes in it, I _always_ want it corrected, if it's not too much bother. These minor errors don't go away unless someone points them out!



> a second meaning is an exclamation of shock or surprise at the indecent or improper behavior of another person, an institution or a group of persons.


 
This strikes me as similar to English usage of 'no way', or similar phrases, to express surprise. It's like technically you're saying that you don't believe that such a thing is possible, but really you just mean that you are shocked to hear it. Is this about right?
Except that in English it doesn't have to be 'indecent or improper' behaviour, just something generally surprising.
e.g.
'Did you hear that Jack and Anna split up?'
'No way!'

I think with *að vera með* vs. *að eiga*, you just have to pick up a feel for which is used in each situation. I was surprised when I first noticed that Icelanders say that somebody 'er með fallegt hár', etc, but then they generally talk about the body in a really different way to English. Like how you can't say 'My feet are cold', you have to say 'I'm cold on the feet' - that one took me a while to get used to.


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## kepulauan

> I'm also beginning to distinguish the short-term / long-term aspects of possession in Icelandic, using *að vera með* for more temporary things, I saw someone correct a comment on YouTube about someone's voice, they wrote _Hún er með fallega rödd_ and it was corrected to_ Hún á fallega rödd_, or something similar...
> Also with a distinction in clothes, like for more minute things that don't exactly count as clothing you use this expression with.
> 
> So when you said_ ég á spurningu _doesn't work but I should use_ ég er með spurningu _(um) instead, this seemed to be another time where a more short-term idea was being used with this expression, and for an expression like "I have a car" you'd use* eiga *because it's more long-term. This is just my reasoning so far, I was happy with it until I saw in the dictionary an example "_Hún er með fallegt hár_" (She has beautiful hair) which seems to ruin my reasoning pretty well. Am I close with my thoughts on this subject??


You are forgetting the verb "_hafa"_. It is the same as "_vera með_" but very different from "_eiga_". The two verbs work just like _to have_ and _to own._ You would probably not remind people they own their beautiful hair like owning a car. Neither would you exclaim that you own a question. Easy to remember.


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## kepulauan

> Like how you can't say 'My feet are cold'



You can say that, you are just expressing a fact rather than a feeling.


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## Alxmrphi

> You are forgetting the verb "_hafa"_.



I always overlook the most easy things!
So in my first opening post I could have said Ég er með spurningu um ... / Ég hef spurningu um ... ?
That's easy to remember, I actually forgot about *eiga *meaning *own*... but I think I'll remember it from now on


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## kepulauan

Yes... well actually the latter sounds a bit better with "_um" _replaced by "_varðandi"_ (the former too). But that's not important.


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## Silver_Biscuit

pollodia said:


> You can say that, you are just expressing a fact rather than a feeling.


 
OK, so maybe you _can_ say 'my feet are cold', but to draw a distinction between a fact and a feeling concerning the coldness of one's feet seems utterly alien to me. If your feet are cold then your feet feel cold - in English it's the same thing, and that's why 'mér er kalt á fótunum' is such a weird construction to me. I'm used to it now, though.


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## Alxmrphi

> Yes... well actually the latter sounds a bit better with "_um" _replaced by "_varðandi"_ (the former too).


Takk, ég ætla að reyna að nota orðið _varðandi_ í staðinn fyrir _um_ þegar fram líða stundir.


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## Tazzler

Alxmrphi said:


> This is just my reasoning so far, I was happy with it until I saw in the dictionary an example "_Hún er með fallegt hár_" (She has beautiful hair) which seems to ruin my reasoning pretty well. Am I close with my thoughts on this subject??


 
Perhaps this construction is used in this case because whether or not your hair looks good can be changed.


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