Questions & Answers about Ég hjóla heim í seinnipartinn.
Time expressions introduced by a preposition often use the definite form of the noun:
• Only seinniparturinn (the late part) refers to a specific slice of the day.
• The preposition í then governs the accusative (which in this case has the same spelling as the nominative).
Icelandic prefers Place-Time order for adverbials. So you say:
Subject + Verb + Place-adverb + Time-phrase
Eg. Ég hjóla (S-V) heim (place) í seinnipartinn (time).
Yes. Both mean “in/during the late afternoon.”
• um seinnipartinn is a general “during” construction with accusative.
• í seinnipartinn has the nuance “in the late part [of the day].”
They’re largely interchangeable in everyday speech.
No. Icelandic often drops the pronoun if context is clear. You could simply say:
Hjóla heim í seinnipartinn.
and it still means “(I’ll) cycle home in the late afternoon.”
hjóla is both the infinitive and the 1st person singular present. The presence of Ég (or context) tells you it’s present. For clarity you can also add the progressive:
Ég er að hjóla heim í seinnipartinn.
means “I am cycling home in the late afternoon.”
Yes. Icelandic is a V2‐word-order language: the finite verb stays in 2nd position. So you get:
Í seinnipartinn hjóla ég heim.
(Time-phrase + Verb + Subject + Place-adverb.)
Absolutely. Some alternatives:
• seint á eftirmiðdeginum
• seint á eftirmiðdegi
• um eftirmiðdaginn
All convey “in the afternoon,” with slight stylistic or dialectal preferences.