Time expressions are where Icelandic hides some of its most useful frozen idioms — phrases whose preposition and case were fixed centuries ago and no longer follow the productive rules. Í gærkvöldi ("last night") still carries an old dative ending; á morgun ("tomorrow") and á morgnana ("in the mornings") look almost identical but mean different things. The honest advice is: don't parse these word by word. Memorise them as whole units, because trying to derive their case will lead you astray. This page also covers telling the clock, which has its own famous trap — hálf fjögur means 3:30, not 4:30. Every noun is tagged for gender (kk / kvk / hk).
Telling the time
The clock runs on klukkan (kvk, "the clock"). To ask the time: Hvað er klukkan? ("What's the time?"). To answer: Klukkan er + the hour.
| Icelandic | English |
|---|---|
| Hvað er klukkan? | What time is it? |
| Klukkan er þrjú | It's three o'clock |
| Klukkan er korter yfir þrjú | It's quarter past three (3:15) |
| Klukkan er hálf fjögur | It's half past three (3:30!) |
| Klukkan er korter í fjögur | It's quarter to four (3:45) |
| Klukkan er fjögur | It's four o'clock |
Hvað er klukkan? — Hún er að verða þrjú.
What time is it? — It's almost three. 'Hún' refers back to klukkan (kvk).
Fundurinn byrjar korter yfir tvö.
The meeting starts at quarter past two (2:15). 'korter yfir' = quarter past.
The "hálf" trap: hálf fjögur = 3:30
This is the one to burn into memory. Hálf fjögur does not mean "half past four." It means half past three (3:30) — literally "half (to) four," counting toward the coming hour. This is the Germanic counting system, shared with German (halb vier) and Dutch, and it is the opposite of the English instinct. Hálf always points at the next hour, so you subtract: hálf fjögur = "halfway to four" = 3:30.
| Icelandic | Literal | Actual time |
|---|---|---|
| hálf tvö | half (to) two | 1:30 |
| hálf þrjú | half (to) three | 2:30 |
| hálf fjögur | half (to) four | 3:30 |
| hálf fimm | half (to) five | 4:30 |
Við hittumst klukkan hálf fjögur, ekki gleyma því.
We're meeting at half past three (3:30), don't forget. 'hálf fjögur' counts toward four = 3:30.
Lestin fer klukkan hálf níu, svo við verðum að flýta okkur.
The train leaves at half past eight (8:30), so we have to hurry. 'hálf níu' = 8:30, not 9:30.
- the coming hour, then subtract thirty minutes. This is the Germanic system (cf. German halb vier) and the reverse of English — the classic time trap.
The point-of-time idioms: today, yesterday, tomorrow
These are the everyday "when" words. Their prepositions are fixed and not predictable from the meaning — í for today and the recent past, á for tomorrow.
| Icelandic | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| í dag | today | "in day" |
| í gær | yesterday | |
| í fyrradag | the day before yesterday | |
| á morgun | tomorrow | á, not í |
| í kvöld | tonight (this evening) | |
| í nótt | tonight / last night | context decides |
| í gærkvöldi | last night (yesterday evening) | frozen dative |
Ég er upptekin í dag en ég hef tíma á morgun.
I'm busy today but I have time tomorrow. Note 'í dag' but 'á morgun' — different prepositions, just memorise them.
Sást þú tunglið í gærkvöldi? Það var svo bjart.
Did you see the moon last night? It was so bright. 'í gærkvöldi' — frozen dative, last evening.
"Í gærkvöldi" is a fossilised dative
Most learners want to say í gærkvöld, by analogy with í kvöld ("tonight"). But "last night" is í gærkvöldi, with an -i ending — a frozen old dative that survives only in this phrase. You can't derive it; it's a fossil. Treat í gærkvöldi as a single unit.
Við fórum á tónleika í gærkvöldi og komum seint heim.
We went to a concert last night and got home late. 'í gærkvöldi' (dative -i ending) for 'last night'.
Spans and habituals: weekends, the other day, lately
These cover stretches of time and vaguer recent past. Note again that the prepositions and cases are lexicalised.
| Icelandic | English | Type |
|---|---|---|
| um helgina | this/the weekend | span (this coming/recent one) |
| um helgar | at weekends | habitual (plural) |
| um daginn | the other day | recent, vague |
| á dögunum | recently, the other day | frozen plural dative |
| í fyrra | last year | |
| núna rétt áðan | just now, a moment ago | |
| fljótlega | soon, shortly |
Ég hitti hann um daginn, hann var hress.
I ran into him the other day, he was in good spirits. 'um daginn' = the other day, vague recent past.
Við förum norður um helgina.
We're going north this weekend. 'um helgina' (definite, this one) vs 'um helgar' (every weekend).
Hún kláraði námið í fyrra.
She finished her studies last year. 'í fyrra' = last year.
Two traps worth a closer look
í fyrra vs í fyrradag
These look like twins but are not. Í fyrra = "last year." Í fyrradag = "the day before yesterday." The shared fyrra- ("former, previous") fools learners constantly — one is a year, the other a day.
Ég byrjaði í þessari vinnu í fyrra.
I started this job last year. 'í fyrra' = last year.
Við komum heim úr fríinu í fyrradag.
We got back from the holiday the day before yesterday. 'í fyrradag' = two days ago.
á morgun vs á morgnana
A reminder that ties back to daily routines: á morgun = "tomorrow" (a single future point); á morgnana = "in the mornings" (a habit, plural). Same root morgun (kk), different number and meaning.
Ég hringi í þig á morgun.
I'll call you tomorrow. 'á morgun' = tomorrow (single point).
Ég fer í ræktina á morgnana.
I go to the gym in the mornings. 'á morgnana' = habitually, plural.
Common Mistakes
❌ Klukkan er hálf fjögur. (meaning 4:30)
Wrong reading — 'hálf fjögur' is 3:30, not 4:30. Icelandic counts toward the next hour.
✅ Klukkan er hálf fimm. (for 4:30)
It's half past four (4:30). 'hálf' + the COMING hour.
❌ Ég sá hann í gærkvöld.
Incorrect — 'last night' keeps the frozen dative ending: gærkvöldi.
✅ Ég sá hann í gærkvöldi.
I saw him last night. 'í gærkvöldi' — fossilised dative -i.
❌ Ég hringi í þig í morgun. (meaning tomorrow)
Wrong — 'í morgun' means 'this morning (just past)'. Tomorrow is 'á morgun'.
✅ Ég hringi í þig á morgun.
I'll call you tomorrow. 'á morgun' = tomorrow.
❌ Ég kláraði skólann í fyrradag. (meaning last year)
Wrong — 'í fyrradag' is 'the day before yesterday', not 'last year'.
✅ Ég kláraði skólann í fyrra.
I finished school last year. 'í fyrra' = last year.
❌ Fundurinn er á korter yfir tvö.
Incorrect — clock times don't take an extra 'á' here; the bare phrase is the time.
✅ Fundurinn er korter yfir tvö.
The meeting is at quarter past two. No extra preposition needed.
Key Takeaways
- Tell the time with Klukkan er
- the hour; ask with Hvað er klukkan? Use korter yfir (quarter past) and korter í (quarter to).
- Hálf fjögur = 3:30, not 4:30 — Icelandic counts toward the next hour, the reverse of English.
- The point idioms have fixed prepositions: í dag, í gær, í fyrradag, á morgun (note á, not í), í kvöld, í gærkvöldi.
- Í gærkvöldi ("last night") keeps a frozen dative -i ending you can't derive — memorise it whole.
- Don't mix up í fyrra (last year) with í fyrradag (the day before yesterday), or á morgun (tomorrow) with á morgnana (in the mornings).
- Treat these as lexicalised units — the case and preposition were frozen long ago and resist the productive rules.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Telling Time and DatesA2 — How to tell the clock and say the date in Icelandic — klukkan er þrjú, the half-hour trap (hálf níu = 8:30, counting UP to the next hour like German), korter yfir/í for quarters, the 24-hour clock, and dates built on ordinals (fjórði júní, þann fimmta).
- Days, Months, and SeasonsA1 — The calendar nouns — the seven days (all masculine -dagur compounds), the months (loanwords, lowercase), and the four seasons — plus the case logic of 'on Monday': accusative-with-article (á mánudaginn) for a specific day versus dative plural (á mánudögum) for the habitual.