ætla ("to intend, to be going to") is the verb Icelandic actually uses for the future. Textbooks teach you that Icelandic "has no future tense," and that is true — but in real speech, when an English speaker would say I'm going to or I'll, an Icelander reaches for ætla að + infinitive far more often than anything else. So this is not a marginal verb you can postpone: Ég ætla að… is the single most common way to talk about your plans, and you will say it dozens of times a day. It is also a perfectly regular weak Class-1 verb, so once you have the pattern of tala, ætla costs you almost nothing.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 1 (the -aði preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef ætlað "I have intended."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að ætla |
| 3sg present | ætlar |
| 3sg past | ætlaði |
| Supine | ætlað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | ætla | ætlaði |
| þú | ætlar | ætlaðir |
| hann / hún / það | ætlar | ætlaði |
| við | ætlum | ætluðum |
| þið | ætlið | ætluðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | ætla | ætluðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | ætli | ætlaði |
| þú | ætlir | ætlaðir |
| hann / hún / það | ætli | ætlaði |
| við | ætlum | ætluðum |
| þið | ætlið | ætluðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | ætli | ætluðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | ætlaðu |
| Imperative (þið) | ætlið! |
| Supine | ætlað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | ætlaður / ætluð / ætlað |
| Reflexive | ætla sér — "to plan/aim for oneself" |
ætla að + infinitive — the everyday future
The core construction is ætla að + a bare infinitive. It means "to be going to / to intend to," and it is how you announce essentially any plan, large or small.
Ég ætla að fara í búðina eftir hádegi.
I'm going to go to the store after noon.
Hvað ætlar þú að gera um helgina?
What are you going to do this weekend?
Við ætlum að hittast klukkan átta.
We're going to meet at eight o'clock.
Notice the að is obligatory — ætla never takes a bare infinitive the way English "I'll go" drops "to." Drop the að and the sentence is simply broken.
The past: "was going to" (and didn't)
In the preterite, ætlaði carries exactly the English nuance of "was going to / had meant to" — an intention that often, by implication, fell through. This is enormously useful for apologising and explaining.
Ég ætlaði að hringja í þig en gleymdi því.
I was going to call you but I forgot.
Þau ætluðu að koma en bíllinn bilaði.
They were going to come but the car broke down.
ætla sér — to set one's sights on something
With a reflexive dative pronoun (mér, þér, sér…), ætla sér means to plan, aim for, or be determined to get something — a stronger, more goal-directed sense than the plain construction. ætla sér + noun is "to intend to have/win it"; ætla sér + infinitive is "to be set on doing it."
Hún ætlar sér sigur í keppninni.
She's aiming for victory in the competition.
Þú ætlar þér of mikið — taktu þér frí.
You're taking on too much — give yourself a break.
ætla vs vilja vs munu
These three cover what English smears across "will." Keep them apart:
| Verb | Meaning | Register / use |
|---|---|---|
| ætla að | intend / be going to (a planned future) | everyday speech — your default future |
| vilja | want to (desire, not a schedule) | everyday — but it's want, not future |
| munu | will / shall (neutral prediction) | (formal / written) — news, forecasts, prose |
Ég ætla að læra í kvöld.
I'm going to study tonight. (my plan)
Það mun rigna á morgun.
It will rain tomorrow. (a forecast — formal/written register)
A weather forecast on TV says það mun rigna; you, telling a friend your plan, say ég ætla að. Using munu in casual conversation about your own plans sounds stiff and bookish.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég ætla fara í bíó.
Incorrect — ætla requires að before the infinitive
✅ Ég ætla að fara í bíó.
I'm going to go to the cinema.
❌ Við ötlum að borða úti.
Incorrect — the stem vowel is æ, which never umlauts; there is no 'ö' here
✅ Við ætlum að borða úti.
We're going to eat out.
❌ Ég vil að fara heim núna.
Incorrect — to say 'I want to go home', vilja takes a bare infinitive (no að): vil fara
✅ Ég vil fara heim núna.
I want to go home now.
❌ Ég mun fara í búðina eftir hádegi.
Awkward — for a personal everyday plan, use ætla að; munu is formal/predictive
✅ Ég ætla að fara í búðina eftir hádegi.
I'm going to go to the store after noon.
Key Takeaways
- ætla / ætlar / ætlaði / ætlað — a fully regular weak Class-1 verb; past tense -aði.
- The stem vowel is æ, so no u-umlaut: við ætlum, þau ætluðu — never "ötlum."
- ætla að + infinitive is the everyday future ("be going to"); the að is obligatory.
- Preterite ætlaði = "was going to" — often an intention that didn't happen.
- ætla sér (reflexive dative) = "aim for / be set on." Keep ætla (plan), vilja (want), and munu (formal "will") distinct.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Expressing the Future: munu, ætla, presentB1 — How Icelandic expresses future time despite having no inflected future tense — the bare present plus a time adverb as the default, munu + infinitive for predictions, ætla að + infinitive for intention, and verða að for obligation-tinged futures, with the munu / ætla / skulu split that carves up English 'will'.
- munu vs skulu vs ætla: Future and IntentionB2 — English 'will / shall / going to' splits across three Icelandic verbs. munu makes a neutral PREDICTION ('it will rain', formal future); skulu expresses the speaker's COMMITMENT — a promise in the 1st person, a command in the 2nd ('I'll definitely help', 'you shall go'); ætla að states an INTENTION or plan ('I'm going to study tonight'). The key is that skal is performative — saying it commits you — a force English 'shall' has mostly lost, so ég skal is stronger than 'I will', and munu is a forecast, never a plan. Includes a decision table.
- Reflexive Verbs and Inherent ReflexivesB2 — Verbs used with the reflexive pronoun sig/sér/sín. True reflexives (hann þvær sér 'he washes himself') where the reflexive is a real object, versus inherently reflexive verbs (flýta sér, skemmta sér, ná sér) where the reflexive is obligatory and carries no separate meaning. Some require dative sér (flýta sér), some accusative sig (hreyfa sig). Plus the benefactive dative reflexive — fá sér, kaupa sér — that marks an action as 'for one's own benefit'. Crucially, sig/sér/sín is 3rd person ONLY; for 'we hurry' you say flýtum okkur.