Arranging a time in Icelandic hides one of the language's nastiest traps for English speakers: hálf sex does not mean half past six — it means half past five, i.e. 5:30. The Icelandic (and broadly Germanic) logic is "half towards six," counting down to the coming hour, not up from the last one. Get this wrong and you turn up an hour late. Below is a realistic exchange between two friends fixing a time to meet, glossed line by line, then unpacked: the hálf-trap, korter yfir/í, the accusative day (á föstudaginn), the reciprocal verb hittast, and the suggestion frame Eigum við að …?
The dialogue
Two friends, Sara and Tómas, sort out when to meet.
| Speaker | Icelandic | English |
|---|---|---|
| Sara | Eigum við að hittast á föstudaginn? | Shall we meet on Friday? |
| Tómas | Endilega! Hvenær passar þér? | Definitely! When works for you? |
| Sara | Getum við hist klukkan hálf sex? | Can we meet at half past five? |
| Tómas | Hálf sex... þá meinarðu klukkan fimm þrjátíu, ekki satt? | Half past five... so you mean five thirty, right? |
| Sara | Já, einmitt. Hálf sex er hálftími í sex. | Yes, exactly. "Hálf sex" is half an hour to six. |
| Tómas | Hálf sex hentar illa. Getum við sagt korter yfir sex? | Half past five doesn't suit me. Can we say a quarter past six? |
| Sara | Já, korter yfir sex passar fínt. Hvar hittumst við? | Yes, a quarter past six works fine. Where do we meet? |
| Tómas | Fyrir framan bíóið. Ég kem korter í sjö ef strætó er seinn. | In front of the cinema. I'll come at a quarter to seven if the bus is late. |
| Sara | Allt í lagi. Sjáumst þá á föstudaginn! | All right. See you then on Friday! |
| Tómas | Sjáumst! Hringdu ef eitthvað breytist. | See you! Call if anything changes. |
The whole negotiation pivots on hálf sex — so that's where we start.
hálf sex = 5:30 — the half-hour trap
In English, "half past five" looks back to the hour that just passed: half after five. Icelandic does the opposite — it looks forward to the hour that's coming. hálf sex means "half (an hour) towards six," i.e. you are halfway to six o'clock, which is 5:30. The number you say (sex) is the next hour, not the current one.
This is the single most important time fact for an English speaker to internalise:
- hálf sex = 5:30 (half towards six)
- hálf sjö = 6:30 (half towards seven)
- hálf tólf = 11:30 (half towards twelve)
The rule: subtract 30 minutes from the hour you hear. hálf + X = (X−1):30.
Getum við hist klukkan hálf sex?
Can we meet at half past five? (hálf sex = 5:30 — 'half towards six')
Hálf sex er hálftími í sex.
'Hálf sex' is half an hour to six. (the logic spelled out: half an hour towards six)
korter yfir, korter í — quarter past and quarter to
The quarters are friendlier, and here Icelandic behaves like English:
- korter yfir sex — "a quarter past six" (6:15). yfir = "over/past."
- korter í sjö — "a quarter to seven" (6:45). í = "to/until."
- fimm mínútur yfir / í — "five minutes past / to."
korter ("quarter [of an hour]") is a loanword and doesn't decline here — just korter yfir / korter í + the hour. Note that with yfir you name the hour just past, and with í you name the hour coming up, exactly like English.
Getum við sagt korter yfir sex?
Can we say a quarter past six? (korter yfir sex = 6:15)
Ég kem korter í sjö.
I'll come at a quarter to seven. (korter í sjö = 6:45)
To ask the time you say Hvað er klukkan? ("What's the clock?"), and to give a time you start with klukkan ("the clock [is] …"): klukkan er sex ("it's six o'clock"). (Full clock-time system: numbers/dates-and-time.)
á föstudaginn — the accusative day
To say "on Friday," Icelandic uses á + the accusative definite form of the day. Föstudagur ("Friday," masculine) becomes föstudaginn. This holds for all the weekdays with á:
| Day | "on [day]" |
|---|---|
| mánudagur (Monday) | á mánudaginn |
| þriðjudagur (Tuesday) | á þriðjudaginn |
| miðvikudagur (Wednesday) | á miðvikudaginn |
| fimmtudagur (Thursday) | á fimmtudaginn |
| föstudagur (Friday) | á föstudaginn |
| laugardagur (Saturday) | á laugardaginn |
| sunnudagur (Sunday) | á sunnudaginn |
The -inn ending is the accusative masculine definite article fused onto the noun. Don't leave the day bare (á föstudagur) — the case marking is obligatory. (More on day names: nouns/days-months.)
Eigum við að hittast á föstudaginn?
Shall we meet on Friday? (á + accusative föstudaginn)
Sjáumst þá á föstudaginn!
See you then on Friday!
hittast, sjáumst — the reciprocal -st verbs
"To meet (each other)" is hittast, and "we'll see each other" is sjáumst — both carry the ending -st, which here marks a reciprocal/mutual action: something the two of you do to each other. So hittast literally encodes "meet one another," and you never need a separate word for "each other." Compare:
- hitta — "to meet (someone)": ég hitti hana ("I meet her").
- hittast — "to meet (one another)": við hittumst ("we meet [each other]").
Hvar hittumst við?
Where do we meet? (hittumst = 'meet each other', 1pl reciprocal -st)
Sjáumst!
See you! (sjáumst = 'we'll see each other' — the standard goodbye)
Note the irregular shape: hittast has the present hittumst ("we meet"), and sjást ("see each other") gives sjáumst. Both are everyday set forms. (The -st family also covers reflexives and passives — see related pages.)
Eigum við að …? — making a suggestion
To propose doing something together, the natural frame is Eigum við að …? ("Shall we …?", literally "Are we to …?"). It's eiga að ("be supposed/to") in the 1st-person plural question. Follow it with the infinitive: Eigum við að hittast? ("Shall we meet?"). The reply Endilega! means "Definitely! / By all means!" (More request/offer frames: pragmatics/requests-and-offers.)
Eigum við að hittast klukkan hálf sex?
Shall we meet at half past five? (Eigum við að … = 'Shall we …?'; hálf sex = 5:30)
To check what suits the other person, use the dative-experiencer passa/henta: Hvenær passar þér? ("When works for you?", lit. "when suits to-you," þér dative).
Hvenær passar þér?
When works for you? (passar þér — dative þér, 'suits to you')
Vocabulary and forms
| Icelandic | Gloss | Note |
|---|---|---|
| klukkan | the clock / o'clock | klukkan er sex = it's six |
| hálf sex | 5:30 | "half towards six" — the trap |
| korter yfir | quarter past | korter yfir sex = 6:15 |
| korter í | quarter to | korter í sjö = 6:45 |
| mínúta (kvk) | minute | fimm mínútur yfir/í |
| hittast | to meet (each other) | 1pl hittumst; -st reciprocal |
| hitta | to meet (someone) | ég hitti hana (+ accusative) |
| sjáumst | see you / we'll meet | from sjást; standard goodbye |
| föstudagur (kk) | Friday | á föstudaginn (accusative) |
| passa / henta | to suit, work for | passar þér? (dative) |
| eiga að + inf. | shall / be to | Eigum við að …? = Shall we …? |
| endilega | definitely, by all means | enthusiastic yes |
| strætó (kk) | (city) bus | informal everyday word |
Things English speakers get wrong here
❌ hálf sex = 6:30
The classic trap — hálf sex is 5:30, not 6:30. Icelandic counts towards the coming hour.
✅ hálf sex = 5:30
half past five ('half towards six')
❌ Eigum við að hittast á föstudagur?
Bare day after á — it needs the accusative definite: föstudaginn.
✅ Eigum við að hittast á föstudaginn?
Shall we meet on Friday?
❌ Hvar hittum við hvort annað?
Adding 'each other' — hittast already means 'meet one another'; use the -st form.
✅ Hvar hittumst við?
Where do we meet?
❌ korter til sjö (for 'quarter to seven')
Wrong preposition — 'quarter to' is korter í, not korter til.
✅ korter í sjö
a quarter to seven (6:45)
Key Takeaways
- hálf X = (X−1):30. hálf sex is 5:30, not 6:30 — Icelandic counts towards the coming hour. This is the trap to drill.
- The quarters match English: korter yfir (past), korter í (to).
- "On [day]" takes á + accusative definite: á föstudaginn, á mánudaginn.
- -st can mean "each other": hittast (meet one another), sjáumst (see you). No separate "each other" needed.
- Suggest with Eigum við að + infinitive …? ("Shall we …?"); check suitability with the dative passar þér?
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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.