samt / engu að síður

Nevertheless (Samt, Engu Að Síður)

Level 4

Það rigndi en við fórum samt. (It rained, but we went anyway.)

How It Works

samt in everyday speech.

  • Það rigndi en við fórum samt. (It rained, but we went anyway.)
  • Hann lærði mikið en féll samt á prófinu. (He studied a lot but still failed the exam.)
  • Hann er ríkur en samt óhamingjusamur. (He is rich but still unhappy.)
  • Takk samt! (Thanks anyway!)

Word order. samt stands after the finite verb, like ekki: Við fórum samt út. When samt comes first, the verb follows it and the subject comes after the verb: Samt fórum við út. See verb-second word order.

samt sem áður and engu að síður. samt sem áður is a stronger samt. engu að síður (nevertheless) belongs to more formal speech and writing, and eigi að síður is more formal still. They often start a sentence, again with the verb right after them: Verkið var erfitt. Engu að síður tókst það. (The job was hard. Nevertheless, it worked out.)

Two kinds of still. English still has two meanings. For something that is still going on, use enn (see ekki enn and ekki lengur): Hann er enn veikur. (He is still ill.) For something that happens despite a reason against it, use samt: Hann er veikur en kom samt. (He is ill but came anyway.)

With a clause. To put the reason in a subordinate clause, use þó að: Þó að það rigndi fórum við út. This means the same as Það rigndi en við fórum samt út.

Examples (6)

  1. Það rigndi en við fórum samt.

    It rained, but we went anyway.

    Word by Word: It rained but we went still.

  2. Hann lærði mikið en féll samt á prófinu.

    He studied a lot but still failed the exam.

    Word by Word: He studied much but failed still on the exam.

  3. Samt fórum við út.

    Still, we went out.

    Word by Word: Still went we out.

    When samt comes first, the verb comes next and the subject follows it.

  4. Takk samt!

    Thanks anyway!

    Word by Word: Thanks still!

  5. Verkið var erfitt; engu að síður tókst það.

    The job was hard; nevertheless, it worked out.

    Word by Word: The work was difficult; nothing the less succeeded it.

    engu að síður is more formal than samt.

  6. Hann er ríkur en samt óhamingjusamur.

    He is rich but still unhappy.

    Word by Word: He is rich but still unhappy.

Common Mistakes

  • Using enn to mean anyway.

    Það rigndi en við fórum enn.
    Það rigndi en við fórum samt.

    The intended meaning is that we went in spite of the rain. enn means still in the sense of going on, so it does not say that. Use samt.

  • Keeping the subject before the verb after samt.

    Samt við fórum út.
    Samt fórum við út.

    samt at the start counts as the first part, so the verb comes second and the subject follows it.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

samt / engu að síðurLevel 4Nevertheless (Samt, Engu Að Síður)

Learn This First

samt builds on although.

Words in This Pattern

samtengu að síður