Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Ég ákvað að hringja í þig í kvöld.

In Icelandic, the verb hringja (“to call/phone”) normally requires the preposition í before the person you call. So you say hringja í einhvern (“call someone”), not hringja einhvern. Without a complement, hringja can mean “to ring” (make a ringing sound), but for calling a person you must use í.

Which case is þig, and why is it used here?

þig is the accusative form of “you” (singular). The prepositional verb hringja í takes the object in the accusative case, so you get í þig. The singular forms of “you” are:

Nominative: þú (subject)
Accusative: þig (direct object, and after some prepositions like í here)
Dative: þér
Genitive: þín

Can I say hringja til þín instead of hringja í þig?

You’ll hear both, but they’re not equally common or neutral. For calling a person, hringja í þig is the most natural everyday choice. hringja til + genitive (so: til þín) is also used, but more often for calling a place/office/institution (e.g., hringja til læknis “call the doctor’s [office]”) or in some styles/regions. If in doubt when calling a person, use hringja í.

Why is í used twice (í þig and í kvöld)? Do both mean the same “in/to”?

It’s the same preposition í, but with two different functions:

hringja í þig: part of the verb’s government (a set pattern), meaning “to call you.”
í kvöld: a time expression meaning “tonight/this evening.” Prepositions are very idiomatic in Icelandic, so you often just have to learn the fixed pairings.

What does að do in að hringja?

að is the infinitive marker—like “to” in English—in front of the bare verb: að hringja = “to call.” After verbs like ákveða (“decide”), reyna (“try”), vonast til (“hope to”), you must include að before the infinitive. You can’t drop it: say Ég ákvað að hringja, not Ég ákvað hringja.

Is ákvað the right past form? What are the main forms of ákveða?

Yes. ákveða (“to decide”) is irregular:

Present: ég ákveð
Past (1sg): ég ákvað
Past participle: ákveðið
Infinitive: að ákveða So: Ég ákvað að hringja… = “I decided to call…”

What about hringja—how does it conjugate?

hringja is regular (weak):

Present: ég hringi
Past (1sg): ég hringdi
Past participle: hringt
Infinitive: að hringja Example past: Í gær hringdi ég í þig (“Yesterday I called you”).

Why is it í kvöld and not á kvöldin?

í kvöld is a fixed expression meaning “tonight/this evening” (one specific evening—today).
á kvöldin means “in the evenings” (habitual, generally; literally “on the evenings”). So use í kvöld for tonight, á kvöldin for a regular routine.

Why not í kvöldi? I’ve seen í gærkvöldi (“yesterday evening”).

It’s a quirk of idiom and case:

“Tonight” is fixed as í kvöld (accusative form).
“Yesterday evening” is í gærkvöldi (dative form built into that compound). You can’t swap them; just learn the set phrases: í morgun (this morning), í dag (today), í kvöld (tonight), í nótt (tonight/during the night), í gærkvöldi (yesterday evening).

Does í kvöld modify “decided” or “call”? Is there ambiguity?

In the sentence Ég ákvað að hringja í þig í kvöld, the default reading is that í kvöld modifies hringja (“call tonight”). If you mean “I decided tonight (to call you),” you’d clarify by moving the time phrase:

“I decided tonight to call you”: Ég ákvað í kvöld að hringja í þig or Í kvöld ákvað ég að hringja í þig. Word order helps disambiguate in Icelandic.

Where would ekki (not) go if I want “I decided not to call you tonight”?

Put ekki right before the infinitive verb it negates:

Ég ákvað að hringja ekki í þig í kvöld. Placing ekki after að and before hringja is the standard pattern.

Why isn’t “I” capitalized in Icelandic (ég)?

In Icelandic, pronouns are not capitalized by default. You only capitalize Ég at the beginning of a sentence because all first words are capitalized—not because it’s “I.”

Pronunciation tips for tricky letters here?

þ in þig is like unvoiced “th” in English “thin.”
ð in að is like voiced “th” in “this” (but often very soft).
í is like a long “ee.”
Ég starts with a “y” sound: roughly “yeh/yehg,” with a soft final g-sound.
hr in hringja is pronounced with a voiceless r; ngj merges so it sounds a bit like “hrin-ja” with a palatal “dy/gy” quality.
ákvað has the diphthong á (like “ow” in “cow”), kv as in “kv…”, and a very soft final ð.

Could I drop one í and say Ég ákvað að hringja þig í kvöld?

No. That’s ungrammatical. You must keep the preposition: hringja í þig. The second í in í kvöld is a separate, unrelated time phrase.

Is there a difference between í kvöld (tonight) and í nótt (tonight/during the night)?

Yes:

í kvöld = this evening/tonight (evening hours).
í nótt = tonight during the night (after bedtime, late night/overnight). So “call tonight (in the evening)” is í kvöld; something happening while you’re sleeping is í nótt.

Are there other common prepositions with hringja?

hringja í [acc] = call someone (by phone). Most common for people.
hringja til [gen] = call to a place/person/office (stylistic/lexical choice; common with institutions or regions).
hringja á [acc] = call for (summon) something/someone, e.g., hringja á leigubíl (“call a taxi”), hringja á sjúkrabíl (“call an ambulance”).