Ég horfi á blómin í garðinum.

I watch the flowers in the garden.

Breakdown of Ég horfi á blómin í garðinum.

• ég: I
• í: in
• garðurinn: the garden
• blómið: the flower
• horfa á: to watch

Questions & Answers about Ég horfi á blómin í garðinum.

Why do we use horfi here, not horfa or horfar?

Icelandic verbs ending in -fa (like horfa, “to look”) drop the -a and add -i in the 1st person singular present. You also do not add -r in that form, so you get ég horfi (“I look”). The -r appears only in 2nd and 3rd person: þú horfir, hann horfir.

Which preposition does horfa require, and what does it mean?

You always say horfa á to mean to look at. Here á corresponds to English “at” and is part of the fixed expression horfa á. It takes the accusative case on its object when used this way.

Why is blómin used for the flowers instead of just blóm?

Icelandic attaches the definite article as a suffix on the noun. For blóm (“flower”) in the plural you have:

• blóm = flowers (indefinite plural)
• blómin = the flowers (definite plural)
  Since you’re looking at the flowers, you use the definite suffix -in.

Why is the case for blómin accusative?

Because horfa á is a verb + preposition construction that takes an accusative object. Even though you’re not physically moving the flowers, grammatically they are the target of your gaze, so they appear in the accusative.

Why is it í garðinum and not í garðurinn or í garði?

• í means in.
• For static location, í requires the dative case.
• garður (“garden”) in dative singular definite is garðinum.
  Put together: í garðinum = in the garden.

How do I pronounce the special letters and accents in this sentence?

• é in ég is /jɛː/ (like yeh but longer), and g = /ɣ/ (a soft, voiced h-type sound).
• o vs. ó: horfi has short /ɔ/, blómin has long /oʊ/.
• á is /auː/ (a long “ow” sound).
• í is /iː/ (long “ee”).
• ð in garðinum is /ð/ (like “th” in this).
  Stress always falls on the first syllable of each word.

Why are there two similar-looking prepositions, á and í, in the same sentence?

They serve different functions:

• horfa á = to look at (takes accusative).
• í = in, indicating location (takes dative for static situations).
  They’re spelled alike except for the case they govern and their meaning.

If I want to ask Are you looking at the flowers in the garden?, how should I structure that in Icelandic?

For a simple yes/no question you invert the finite verb and the subject:
Horfir þú á blómin í garðinum?
If you prefer the progressive nuance, use er að + infinitive:
Ertu að horfa á blómin í garðinum?