að as the conjunction that, told apart from að the infinitive marker; word order and the missing comma.
I can say what I know or think in one sentence (Ég veit að rútan fer klukkan sjö frá BSÍ).
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Ég veit að Embla kemur ekki í kvöld.
I know Embla is not coming tonight.
Hann sagði að rútan færi klukkan sjö frá BSÍ.
He said the coach would leave at seven from BSÍ.
Mér finnst að við ættum að leggja fyrr af stað.
I think we should set off earlier.
Þegar veðrið er gott líður mér vel.
When the weather is good I feel fine.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
að introduces the clause after verbs of knowing, thinking and saying: vita, halda, segja, finnast, sjá, heyra.
The same little word also marks the infinitive. Compare:
You met að as a linking word in Samtengingar; this is what it does beyond joining clauses. Icelandic does not send the verb to the end. The subordinate clause keeps subject before verb, and a sentence adverb such as ekki normally follows the finite verb:
But when a subordinate clause comes first in the sentence, it counts as the first element, so the main clause verb comes immediately after it: Þegar veðrið er gott líður mér vel.
As a rule no comma is written before að (Ritreglur § 21.1.3 allows one only where it prevents a misreading): Hann veit að hún kemur. The conjunction can even be dropped: Hann veit hún kemur. The same holds when a subordinate clause is fronted: Þegar veðrið er gott líður mér vel, with no comma at the join.
Some verbs - vona, vilja, efast um - put the following verb in the subjunctive (Ég vona að þú komir). Learn those as set phrases for now; the subjunctive itself comes at B1.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesWriting a comma before að, as most European punctuation traditions require. - Carrying the same comma into a fronted subordinate clause: *Þegar veðrið er gott, líður mér vel. - Confusing the conjunction with the infinitive marker, so that Ég ætla að fara and Ég veit að hann fer look like the same structure. - Using the indicative after vona and vilja, where the subjunctive is required.
Ég veit að Embla kemur ekki í kvöld.
I know Embla is not coming tonight.
Subject before verb, ekki after the finite verb, and no comma before að.
Hann sagði að rútan færi klukkan sjö frá BSÍ.
He said the coach would leave at seven from BSÍ.
Reported speech pulls the verb into the subjunctive færi, which belongs to B1 - memorise this frame as a phrase for now. BSÍ is the long-distance coach terminal in Reykjavík.
Mér finnst að við ættum að leggja fyrr af stað.
I think we should set off earlier.
Both kinds of að in one sentence: the conjunction after finnst, the infinitive marker after ættum.
Þegar veðrið er gott líður mér vel.
When the weather is good I feel fine.
The fronted clause fills the first slot, so the main verb líður comes next and the pronoun follows it.
Ég vona að þú komir með okkur á Þingvelli.
I hope you will come with us to Þingvellir.
vona takes the subjunctive komir. Þingvellir is the rift-valley assembly site an hour from Reykjavík.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
The official orthographic rules. Rule 21.1.1 gives Hann veit að hún kemur without a comma; rule 21.1.2 sets off only the parenthetical sem-clause with commas.