Við förum í bíó í kvöld.

we

Breakdown of Við förum í bíó í kvöld.

• fara: to go
• í: to
• bíóið: the cinema

Questions & Answers about Við förum í bíó í kvöld.

What does við mean, and why is it capitalized here?

við is the first-person plural pronoun “we.” It’s capitalized because every sentence in Icelandic (like in English) starts with a capital letter, even if the word itself isn’t normally capitalized in other positions.

What is förum, and how does it relate to the infinitive fara?

förum is the present-tense, first-person plural form of the verb fara (“to go”). So við förum literally means “we go,” but in natural English you’d say “we are going” or “we’ll go.”

Why is the preposition í used twice, and do they mean the same thing?

No, they serve two different functions:

• The first í (in í bíó) is directional, meaning “to” – “we are going to the cinema.”
• The second í (in í kvöld) is temporal, meaning “in” when referring to time – “in the evening,” i.e. “tonight.”

Why isn’t there an article before bíó, and how would you say “to the cinema” with a definite article?