Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Ég hitti frænda minn í litlu brúðkaupi um helgina. - I met my uncle at a small wedding this weekend.

So how do we know it is past here? From the time expression um helgina, which in normal conversation refers to the (just finished) weekend. Together they are understood as I met my uncle over the weekend.

Why is it frænda and not frændi?

Frænda is the accusative form of frændi. In this sentence, frændi (uncle / male relative) is the direct object of the verb hitti, so it must be in the accusative case.

A simplified paradigm for frændi (singular):

Nominative (subject): frændi – an uncle (as subject)
Accusative (direct object): frænda
Dative: frænda
Genitive: frænda

Compare:

Frændi minn kom. – My uncle came. (subject → nominative frændi)
Ég hitti frænda minn. – I met my uncle. (object → accusative frænda)

So Ég hitti frænda minn must use frænda because it is what you hit/meet (the object).

Why is it frænda minn and not minn frænda for my uncle?

Both word orders are possible, but the neutral, default way in Icelandic is:

noun + possessive pronoun

So:

frænda minn – my uncle (neutral, most common)
minn frændi – my uncle (more marked, adds emphasis on my)

The post‑posed pattern is standard:

bíllinn minn – my car
húsið okkar – our house
börnin ykkar – your (pl.) children

If you put the possessive first (minn frændi), you are usually adding extra emphasis, a bit like stressing my in English:

minn frændi – my uncle (as opposed to some other person’s uncle)

In this sentence we just want the normal, unmarked my uncle, so frænda minn is the natural choice.

Does frændi mean uncle or cousin?

Frændi is broader than English uncle. It means male relative, and depending on context it can refer to:

an uncle (your parents’ brother)
a male cousin
sometimes other male relatives

The basic patterns:

frændi – male relative (uncle / male cousin)
frænka – female relative (aunt / female cousin)

If you need to be more specific, Icelandic can use more precise words:

föðurbróðir – father’s brother (paternal uncle)
móðurbróðir – mother’s brother (maternal uncle)
föðursystir – father’s sister (paternal aunt)
móðursystir – mother’s sister (maternal aunt)

But in everyday speech frændi and frænka are very common and often left ambiguous, just like this sentence does.

Why is it í litlu brúðkaupi and not something like í litla brúðkaupinu?

Several things are happening here: the preposition, the case, and definiteness.

Preposition + case

Í can take either dative or accusative:

dative → location (in / at)
accusative → movement into something (into)

Here we mean at / in a small wedding (location), so í uses the dative.

Dative form of brúðkaup

Brúðkaup is a neuter noun:

Nom./acc. sg.: brúðkaup
Dative sg.: brúðkaupi

After í for location we need dative, so we get í … brúðkaupi.

Adjective agreement: litlu

The adjective lítill (small) must match brúðkaupi in gender, number, and case:

brúðkaupi: neuter, singular, dative
So lítill → litlu in neuter singular dative
→ í litlu brúðkaupi

Indefinite vs definite

í litlu brúðkaupi – at a small wedding (indefinite)
í litla brúðkaupinu – at the small wedding (definite, a particular one you both know about)

Our sentence is talking about some small wedding (indefinite), so í litlu brúðkaupi is correct.

Why does brúðkaupi end in -i?

That -i is the dative singular ending for a neuter noun.

Declension of brúðkaup (singular):

Nominative: brúðkaup – (a) wedding (subject / citation form)
Accusative: brúðkaup – (a) wedding (direct object)
Dative: brúðkaupi – in/at/from a wedding
Genitive: brúðkaups – of a wedding

Since í (with a static location meaning) takes the dative, we need brúðkaupi here:

í brúðkaupi – in / at a wedding

Why is the adjective litlu and not lítið or lítill?

Adjectives in Icelandic must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

The noun here is brúðkaupi:

gender: neuter
number: singular
case: dative

The adjective lítill (small) has many forms. For the neuter singular dative, the correct strong form is:

litlu

Compare:

Nominative neuter: lítið brúðkaup – a small wedding (subject)
Accusative neuter: lítið brúðkaup – a small wedding (object)
Dative neuter: í litlu brúðkaupi – in a small wedding

So litlu is just the form of lítill that matches brúðkaupi in this grammatical environment.

What exactly does um helgina mean, and why is it accusative?

Um helgina is a very common way to express time:

um
- accusative = during / over / around (a period of time)

Helgi by itself means weekend. Its accusative singular definite form is helgina:

Singular of helgi:

Nom.: helgi – weekend
Acc.: helgi → helgina (definite)
Dat.: helgi → helginni
Gen.: helgi → helgar

So:

um helgina literally: during the weekend / over the weekend
In practice, in everyday talk it usually refers to the most recent weekend that just passed.

The definite ending -na on helgina corresponds to English the, but Icelandic usually marks definiteness with suffixes on the noun rather than a separate word.

How would I say last weekend, this coming weekend, and on weekends?

Using helgi (weekend), these are common patterns:

last weekend
- um helgina – often used in context to mean this past weekend
- more explicit: um síðustu helgi – during last weekend
this coming weekend
- um helgina can also mean this coming weekend depending on context,
  but you can be clearer with:
- um næstu helgi – during next weekend
on weekends (habitually)
- um helgar – on weekends / at weekends
  (helgar here is genitive plural)

Examples:

Ég hitti frænda minn um síðustu helgi. – I met my uncle last weekend.
Ég hitti frænda minn um næstu helgi. – I’m meeting my uncle next weekend.
Ég hitti frænda minn oft um helgar. – I often meet my uncle on weekends.

Can I change the word order, like moving um helgina or í litlu brúðkaupi earlier in the sentence?

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible, especially for adverbials and prepositional phrases, as long as the verb stays in second position in a main clause.

Original:

Ég hitti frænda minn í litlu brúðkaupi um helgina.

Possible alternatives (all grammatical, with slightly different emphasis):

Um helgina hitti ég frænda minn í litlu brúðkaupi.
Emphasis on um helgina – It was over the weekend that I met my uncle…
Í litlu brúðkaupi hitti ég frænda minn um helgina.
Emphasis on í litlu brúðkaupi – It was at a small wedding that I met my uncle…

The core order of subject–verb–object stays the same (Ég hitti frænda minn), and the prepositional phrases í litlu brúðkaupi and um helgina can move around for information structure and emphasis.