Vekjaraklukkan hringir ekki á frídögum, svo ég sef lengur.

The alarm clock does not ring on days off, so I sleep longer.

Breakdown of Vekjaraklukkan hringir ekki á frídögum, svo ég sef lengur.

• ég: I
• ekki: not
• sofa: to sleep
• á: on
• svo: so
• vekjaraklukkan: the alarm clock
• hringja: to ring
• frídagurinn: the day off
• lengur: longer

Questions & Answers about Vekjaraklukkan hringir ekki á frídögum, svo ég sef lengur.

Why is vekjaraklukkan in the definite form, and how do you form the definite from the indefinite?

In Icelandic you show “the” by adding a suffix to the noun. The indefinite nominative is vekjaraklukka (an alarm clock). To make it definite you add -n. Because it’s a feminine a-stem, you drop the final -a and add -an, yielding vekjaraklukkan (“the alarm clock”).

What case is á frídögum, and why is it plural dative?

The preposition á when used with days or times takes the dative case. Frídagur (day off) in plural nominative is frídagar, and plural dative ends in -um, giving frídögum. So á frídögum literally means “on days off.”

Why does ekki come after hringir instead of before it?

Ekki is the standard negation in Icelandic and typically follows the finite verb in main clauses.
Pattern: Subject – Verb – ekki – Object/Adverbial.
Here: Vekjaraklukkan (subject) hringir (verb) ekki (negation) á frídögum (adverbial).

What does svo mean in svo ég sef lengur, and why not another conjunction?

Here svo means “so” or “thus,” linking cause and effect: “The alarm clock doesn’t ring on holidays, so I sleep longer.” It’s not the subordinating vegna þess að (“because”) but a result-marker. You could rephrase the reason with vegna þess að only if you flip the logic:
“Vegna þess að vekjaraklukkan hringir ekki á frídögum, sef ég lengur.”
But using svo keeps the original order and emphasizes the effect.

Why is the verb sefa conjugated as sef here?

Sofa (to sleep) is a strong verb. Its present‐tense first‐person singular form is ég sef. Icelandic drops the ending for ég, so you get sef, not sofa.

What’s the difference between lengur and langur?

• Langur is an adjective meaning “long” (e.g. langur dagur = “a long day”).
• Lengi is the adverb “for a long time,” and its comparative is lengur = “longer” (in time).
  In sef lengur, lengur modifies sef (“sleep”) and means “sleep longer.”

How do you pronounce the ð and g in frídögum?

• ð is a voiced dental fricative, like the “th” in English this.
• The g before -um is a voiced velar fricative [ɣ], similar to the softer “g” in some Spanish dialects.
  Phonetically: [ˈfriːðoˌɣoum].

How would you say “Alarm clocks don’t ring on holidays, so I sleep longer” (plural) in Icelandic?

Turn vekjaraklukka into the plural vekjaraklukkur, and conjugate hringir to 3rd-person plural hringja:
“Vekjaraklukkur hringja ekki á frídögum, svo ég sef lengur.”

Could you use vegna þess að instead of svo here, and what’s the difference?

Yes—but it changes the structure.

• Svo marks a result: “It doesn’t ring… so I sleep longer.”
• Vegna þess að marks a cause/reason: “Because the alarm clock doesn’t ring… I sleep longer.”
  Both convey cause–effect, but svo emphasizes the effect, whereas vegna þess að foregrounds the reason.