Ég fer í búð til að kaupa mjólk.

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Breakdown of Ég fer í búð til að kaupa mjólk.

• fara: to go
• kaupa: to buy
• í: to

Questions & Answers about Ég fer í búð til að kaupa mjólk.

Why is fer used instead of fara?

fara is the infinitive meaning to go. In Icelandic you must conjugate it for person and number in the present tense, so Ég fer is the 1st person singular present form of fara.

Why is there no article before búð? Wouldn't the store be búðin?

In this sentence you’re speaking of going shopping in general, not a specific store. Indefinite singular nouns remain unmarked: búð = a shop/store. If you wanted to say the store, you would use the definite form búðin.

Why is í used with búð, and why does búð have no visible case ending?

• The preposition í can govern either the accusative (for motion toward) or the dative (for location).
• Here you’re expressing motion into the shop, so í takes the accusative case.
• Many feminine nouns (like búð) have identical nominative and accusative singular forms, so there’s no extra ending to show it.

What is the function of til að here?

til að is a fixed purpose marker equivalent to English in order to or the infinitival to when expressing purpose. The word by itself usually governs a noun in the genitive (e.g. = ), but when you want to attach a verb for purpose, you always follow with plus the infinitive.