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Questions & Answers about Beygðu til hægri við kaffihúsið.
What grammatical form is the word Beygðu?
It’s the 2nd-person singular imperative of the verb beygja (to turn/bend). It’s a direct command addressed to one person: “Turn!”
How do I say it to more than one person?
Use the plural imperative: Beygið til hægri við kaffihúsið. That addresses two or more people.
Can I drop til and say “Beygðu hægri”?
No. In Icelandic directions you normally say til hægri / til vinstri. The phrase is fixed; Beygðu hægri sounds wrong. So: Beygðu til hægri (“Turn to the right”).
What exactly is going on in til hægri grammatically?
- til is a preposition that governs the genitive.
- hægri is part of the set phrase til hægri (“to the right”).
Treat til hægri (and til vinstri) as fixed adverbial expressions. Don’t try to change hægri to another case form here.
What does við mean here, and which case does it take?
Here við means “at/by/next to” and it takes the accusative. That’s why we get við kaffihúsið (accusative singular, definite).
Why is it kaffihúsið (the café) and not just kaffihús (a café)?
Icelandic often uses the definite form for specific landmarks in directions, even if they haven’t been mentioned before. við kaffihúsið implies a particular, contextually identifiable café (the one you can see or both speakers know).
What are the main forms of the noun kaffihús?
- Indefinite singular: nominative/accusative kaffihús, genitive kaffihúss, dative kaffihúsi
- Definite singular: nominative/accusative kaffihúsið, genitive kaffihússins, dative kaffihúsinu
It’s a neuter noun.
How do I pronounce the sentence?
- Beygðu: roughly “BAYG-thu” (ey ~ “ay” in “day”; ð is the voiced “th” in “this”; the g is a soft, friction sound).
- til: “teel”.
- hægri: “HY-ehg-ri” (æ ~ “eye”; soft g; rolled/flapped r).
- við: “vith” (with the same voiced “th”).
- kaffihúsið: “KAH-fi-hoo-sith” (stress on KAH; ú like long “oo”; final ð = voiced “th”).
Icelandic stress is on the first syllable of words.
Could I use another verb instead of beygja?
Yes. Snúa also means “to turn.” You can say: Snúðu til hægri við kaffihúsið.
Nuance: beygja is the default for changing direction while moving (vehicles/people). snúa can be more about rotating/turning around but is also used for directions.
How do I say “Don’t turn right at the café”?
Put ekki after the imperative: Beygðu ekki til hægri við kaffihúsið.
Can I change the order of the direction phrases?
Yes. You can say Beygðu til hægri við kaffihúsið (neutral) or Beygðu við kaffihúsið til hægri (slightly more focus on the landmark). Both are fine.
What’s the difference between við, hjá, and á here?
- við (+ accusative): “by/at/next to” a landmark along your path; natural in turn-by-turn directions.
- hjá (+ dative): “by/at someone’s place/near” in a looser sense; less typical for “turn at,” more for “I’m by/at X.”
- á: “on/at.” With locations, dative = static (e.g., á kaffihúsinu = at the café), accusative = motion onto (which would sound odd with a building). For turning instructions, við is best.
How do I make the command more polite?
- Add a polite adverb: Vinsamlegast beygðu til hægri við kaffihúsið.
- Use a request with a modal: Gætirðu beygt til hægri við kaffihúsið? (Could you turn right at the café?)
Is við ever the pronoun “we”?
Yes, við also means “we.” You tell them apart by position and function. As a preposition it’s followed by a noun phrase and governs case (við kaffihúsið). As a pronoun it stands on its own as subject (Við förum = “We are going”).
Does hægri here mean “correct,” like English “right”?
No. Directional hægri = “right (hand side).” “Correct/right” is rétt (adjective/adverb) or réttur (noun, “a right”). Different words.
How would I say “Turn right just past the café”?
Use framhjá (“past”) with the dative: Beygðu til hægri rétt framhjá kaffihúsinu.
- framhjá takes dative → kaffihúsinu.
- rétt here means “just.”
How do I say “Turn left at the café”?
Replace hægri with vinstri: Beygðu til vinstri við kaffihúsið.