Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag.

I have permission to work at home today.

Breakdown of Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag.

• ég: I
• vinna: to work
• heima: at home
• hafa: to have
• til að: to
• í dag: today
• leyfi: the permission

Questions & Answers about Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag.

What does each word mean literally?

• Ég — I (nominative subject pronoun)
• hef — have (1st person singular present of hafa)
• leyfi — permission/permit (neuter noun)
• til — to/for (preposition; also “until” in other contexts)
• að — to (infinitive marker)
• vinna — work (infinitive)
• heima — at home (adverb of place)
• í — in (preposition)
• dag — day (accusative singular; in time expressions)

Why use hef “have” instead of má “may/am allowed to”?

• Ég má vinna heima í dag = I am allowed to work from home today (permission as a simple fact).
• Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag = I have permission/a permit to work from home today (emphasizes that permission exists, often sounds more formal or official). Both are correct; má is shorter and more conversational, hef leyfi is more formal or explicit.

Can I say “Ég hef leyfi að vinna heima í dag” without til?

No. After leyfi you need til when the complement is a verb phrase: leyfi til að + infinitive.
Correct: Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag.
If you use a noun instead of a verb, you still use til and the genitive: leyfi til vinnu (“permission for work”).

Why is it heima and not something like í heimili or heimi?

Heima is an adverb meaning “at home.” You don’t use a preposition with it.

• heima = at home (location)
• heim = home(wards) (direction)
• heiman = from home (source)
  Heimili is a noun (“home/household”), so í heimili is not how you say “at home.”

What’s the difference between vinna heima and vinna að heiman?

• vinna heima = work at home (physically located at home).
• vinna að heiman = work from home (remotely; “from-home” work).
  Both are common today; vinna heima is simpler and very idiomatic.

Do I need a definite article like “the permission” (leyfið)?

Usually no. Leyfi behaves like “permission” in English (mass-like) and often appears without an article: Ég hef leyfi… If you mean a specific permit/document, you can use the definite form, e.g., ökuleyfið (“the driver’s license”).

What case does til govern, and where is it here?

Til governs the genitive. In this sentence it’s followed by að + infinitive, so you don’t see a genitive noun. If you swapped in a noun, it would be genitive: leyfi til vinnu (gen. of vinna).

Why is it í dag with dag in the accusative?

With time expressions, í typically takes the accusative to mean “this/that period”: í dag (today), í morgun (this morning), í kvöld (this evening).
By contrast, í + dative often marks static location: í Reykjavík (in Reykjavík).

Can I front the time phrase? What happens to word order?

Yes. Icelandic is V2 (the finite verb must be in second position).
Fronting gives: Í dag hef ég leyfi til að vinna heima.
Note the verb hef stays second; the subject ég moves after it.

Is hef here an auxiliary for the perfect tense?

No. Hef is simply “have” (possession) here: Ég hef leyfi = “I have permission.”
As a perfect auxiliary it would pair with a supine participle, e.g., Ég hef unnið (“I have worked”).

What verb form is vinna here?

Infinitive. The pattern is til að + infinitive: til að vinna (“to work”). The finite verb in the sentence is hef.

How do I ask “May I work from home today?” in Icelandic?

• Má ég vinna heima í dag?
  Also possible: Má ég vinna að heiman í dag? (explicitly “from home”).

Where should I put í dag? Is the sentence-final position required?

It’s flexible. Common options:

• Neutral: Ég hef leyfi til að vinna heima í dag.
• Fronted time for emphasis or topic: Í dag hef ég leyfi til að vinna heima.
• You can also put í dag right after the finite verb: Ég hef í dag leyfi til að vinna heima (more formal).

Is leyfi countable?

It can be mass-like (“permission”) or countable (“a permit”). In your sentence it’s mass-like. Declension note: it’s a neuter -i noun; surface form is the same in most cases (sg/pl), with gen.sg leyfis and gen.pl leyfa.

Pronunciation tips for the whole sentence?

Approximate guide (English-friendly):

• Ég ≈ “yehg” (g is soft; often like a voiced h)
• hef ≈ “hev” (before a vowel, f sounds like v; in isolation it’s “hef”)
• leyfi ≈ “LAY-vi”
• til ≈ “til” (clear t)
• að ≈ “a(th)” with the th of “this”
• vinna ≈ “VIN-na” (short i, double n held a bit)
• heima ≈ “HAY-ma”
• í ≈ “ee” (long)
• dag ≈ “dahg” (long a; g like a soft gh)

Could I write “Ég get unnið heima í dag” to mean the same thing?

No. Ég get unnið heima í dag means “I can/am able to work at home today” (ability or possibility), not permission. For permission use má or hef leyfi.

Is a comma needed before að vinna?

No. Icelandic does not use a comma before an infinitival að in this structure: leyfi til að vinna (no comma).

Can I replace leyfi with another word?

Yes, in formal/legal style you might see heimild (authorization): Ég hef heimild til að vinna heima í dag. It sounds more official than leyfi.

Any other natural alternatives to say the same idea?

• Ég má vinna heima í dag. (most direct, “I’m allowed to.”)
• Mér er leyft að vinna heima í dag. (impersonal: “It is permitted to me…,” more formal/literary)
  All convey permission, with small differences in tone/formality.