Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hún elskar tímann. - She loves time.

Hardcore Icelandic
/Lesson 3
/Hún elskar tímann.

Hún elskar tímann.

Word

Hún elskar tímann.

Meaning

She loves time.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Icelandic

Lesson

Breakdown of Hún elskar tímann.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Icelandic grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Icelandic now

Questions & Answers about Hún elskar tímann.

Why is it tímann and not tími or tíminn?

Because tímann is the accusative singular definite form of tími.

A quick breakdown:

tími = time (indefinite nominative singular)
tíminn = the time (definite nominative singular)
tímann = the time (definite accusative singular)

In this sentence, tímann is the direct object of elskar, so it has to be in the accusative case.

What case is tímann, and why does it use that case?

Tímann is in the accusative case.

In Icelandic, many verbs require their direct object to be in a particular case. The verb elska (to love) takes an accusative object, so the noun receiving the action must be accusative.

So in:

Hún = the subject
elskar = the verb
tímann = the object in accusative

This is one of the most important things to get used to in Icelandic: verbs often control the case of the noun that follows.

Where is the word the in this sentence?

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

So:

tími = time
tíminn / tímann = the time (with different case forms)

That means the -inn / -ann ending is doing the job that English the does.

This is very common in Icelandic nouns.

What does elskar mean grammatically?

Elskar is the present tense form of the verb elska (to love).

Here it means loves.

A useful point for learners: in the present tense, Icelandic verbs change depending on the subject, but not as much as in some other languages. For elska, the third person singular form is:

hann elskar = he loves
hún elskar = she loves
það elskar = it loves

So elskar here matches hún.

Why is it Hún with a capital letter?

It is capitalized simply because it is the first word of the sentence.

The word itself is hún with a lowercase h in normal dictionary form.

So:

hún = she
Hún = the same word at the beginning of a sentence

Is hún only used for people, like English she?

Not always.

Hún is the feminine third-person singular pronoun, so it can refer to:

a female person
a noun with grammatical feminine gender

Like many European languages, Icelandic has grammatical gender, so pronouns can refer to noun gender, not just biological sex.

In this sentence, though, most learners will naturally read hún as she.

Is the word order in Hún elskar tímann the normal Icelandic order?

Yes. This is the basic subject–verb–object order:

Hún = subject
elskar = verb
tímann = object

That is the most neutral and natural order here.

Icelandic can be more flexible than English because case endings help show what each word is doing, but this sentence uses the standard, straightforward order.

Could I also say Tímann elskar hún?

Yes, that is possible, but it changes the emphasis.

Putting tímann first gives it more focus, something like:

It is the time that she loves
The time, she loves

Because tímann is clearly accusative, Icelandic speakers can still tell it is the object. But for a beginner, Hún elskar tímann is the safest and most neutral version.

How do you pronounce Hún elskar tímann?

A simple learner-friendly guide:

Hún ≈ hoon
elskar ≈ EL-skar
tímann ≈ TEE-man

A few pronunciation notes:

ú is a long oo-type sound.
í is a long ee sound.
Stress in Icelandic usually falls on the first syllable of each word.

So the main stresses are:

HÚN
ELskar
TÍmann

Does tími here mean literal clock time, or can it mean something broader?

It can mean different things depending on context.

Tími can mean:

time in the general sense
a period of time
sometimes even a season, era, or appointed time

So Hún elskar tímann could mean she loves time, the moment, or the period, depending on the situation.

Without context, learners should just recognize the grammar first: it is the definite accusative form of tími.

Do Icelandic sentences always need the subject pronoun, as in hún?

Usually yes.

Unlike some languages that often drop subject pronouns, Icelandic normally keeps them. So saying Hún elskar tímann is the normal full sentence.

That makes Icelandic more similar to English in this respect than to languages like Spanish or Italian.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io