Breakdown of Við horfum á sjónvarpið án hljóðs í kvöld.
við
we
í kvöld
tonight
sjónvarpið
the television
horfa á
to watch
Questions & Answers about Við horfum á sjónvarpið án hljóðs í kvöld.
Why is the verb horfum in the present tense when it refers to watching TV tonight? Shouldn’t you use a future form?
In Icelandic the simple present tense often covers near-future actions if you include a time adverbial like í kvöld. You don’t need a separate future tense. For example Ég fer í bíó á morgun literally “I go to the cinema tomorrow,” but is understood as “I’m going to the cinema tomorrow.”
Why isn’t the periphrastic progressive (vera að + infinitive) used here, e.g. Við erum að horfa?
The vera að + infinitive construction is normally for actions in progress at the very moment of speaking. When you talk about planned or habitual actions—even if it’s tonight—you typically use the simple present, especially with explicit time markers like í kvöld. If you wanted to stress “we are watching right now,” you could say Við erum að horfa á sjónvarpið núna.
What case does sjónvarpið take after horfum á? I thought á takes the dative.
The preposition á can govern accusative or dative depending on meaning. With horfa á (“to look at/watch”), you have movement or direction toward the object, so it takes the accusative. sjónvarpið is the accusative singular of sjónvarp.
Why does sjónvarpið end with -ið?