Við förum á fund í hádeginu.

we

Breakdown of Við förum á fund í hádeginu.

• fara: to go
• í: at
• á: to
• hádegið: the noon
• fundur: the meeting

Questions & Answers about Við förum á fund í hádeginu.

What exactly does Við mean here, and is it always translated as we?

Við is the subject pronoun we in Icelandic.

• It is 1st person plural, nominative case, so it is used when we are the subject of the sentence.
• Other forms of the same pronoun are:
  • okkur – us (accusative and dative)
  • okkar – our / of us (genitive)

Examples:

• Við förum. – We go.
• Hann sér okkur. – He sees us.
• Þetta er bíllinn okkar. – This is our car.

In normal Icelandic, you do not drop the subject pronoun the way you sometimes can in other languages, so you pretty much always say við for we as a subject.

What is förum, and how is it formed from the verb fara?

Förum is the present tense, 1st person plural form of the verb fara (to go).

Present indicative of fara:

• ég fer – I go
• þú ferð – you go (singular)
• hann / hún / það fer – he / she / it goes
• við förum – we go
• þið farið – you go (plural)
• þeir / þær / þau fara – they go

Points to notice:

• The vowel changes from a in the infinitive fara to ö in förum; this kind of vowel change is very common in Icelandic verb paradigms.
• Við förum on its own is simply we go or we are going, depending on context.

The English meaning is future-like: We are going to a meeting at noon. Why is Icelandic using the present tense förum instead of something like a special future tense?

Icelandic very often uses the simple present to talk about planned or scheduled future actions, just like English can:

• Við förum á fund í hádeginu.
  Contextually: We are going to a meeting at noon. (later today / in the future)

Other examples:

• Ég fer heim á morgun. – I go home tomorrow / I am going home tomorrow.
• Þeir koma á föstudaginn. – They come on Friday / They are coming on Friday.

There is a future-like construction with munu:

• Við munum fara á fund í hádeginu.

…but that sounds more like a neutral future statement (we will go to a meeting at noon) and is less about a concrete, scheduled plan. For everyday plans, the present förum is perfectly natural.

Why is it á fund and not something like í fund? What does á do here?

Á is a very common preposition that can mean:

• on
• in
• to / onto

Which exact meaning you get depends on:

1. The verb it combines with.
2. The case of the noun after it (accusative vs dative).
3. Established idiomatic usage.

With fara á fund, the pattern is:

• fara á fund – to go to a meeting
  Here á takes the accusative (movement towards something).

The noun fundur (meeting) is:

• nominative: fundur
• accusative: fund
• dative: fundi
• genitive: fundar

So:

• á fund uses fund (accusative), because we are going to the meeting.

Why not í fund?

• í fund is not idiomatic Icelandic for this meaning.
• The accepted collocation is fara á fund.

• With the verb vera (to be), you get á fundi (on/in a meeting – dative, because it is a location, not movement):

  • Ég er á fundi. – I am in a meeting.
  • Við vorum á fundi í gær. – We were in a meeting yesterday.

So:

• Movement: fara á fund (accusative)
• Location: vera á fundi (dative)

Why is it fund and not fundur in the sentence?

The base (dictionary) form is fundur (nominative singular), but here the word is in the accusative singular after the preposition á indicating movement.

Declension of fundur:

• nominative: fundur – a meeting (as subject)
  
  • Fundurinn hefst. – The meeting begins.
• accusative: fund – a meeting (as object, or after some prepositions)
  
  • Við förum á fund. – We go to a meeting.
• dative: fundi – to/at a meeting (location/indirect object)
  
  • Hann er á fundi. – He is at a meeting.
• genitive: fundar – of a meeting
  
  • dagskrá fundarins – the agenda of the meeting.

So fund is simply the grammatically required form here, because á with motion takes the accusative.

What does í hádeginu literally mean, and why is there that -inu ending?

Í hádeginu literally means in/at the noon, and idiomatically at noon.

Breakdown:

• í – in / at
• hádegi – noon (neuter noun)
• -nu (spelled here as -inu) – definite dative singular ending

The noun hádegi:

• nominative/accusative: hádegi – noon
• dative (indefinite): hádegi
• dative (definite): hádeginu – the noon
• genitive: hádegis

With í used for time expressions, you normally use the dative, and for specific parts of the day you usually also use the definite form:

• í hádeginu – at noon
• í morgun vs í morguninn (there are idiomatic preferences)
• á kvöldin – in the evenings

So in this sentence, í hádeginu is:

• preposition í
• plus hádeginu (dative, definite)

giving the natural Icelandic way to say at noon.

Can I say í hádegi instead of í hádeginu? Is there a difference?

You can hear í hádegi, but:

• Í hádeginu is the more typical and idiomatic way to say at noon.
• Í hádegi can sound a bit more like at (around) midday or more general, and is less common in the exact meaning at noon, depending on dialect and style.

Think of:

• í hádeginu – the default, specific time at noon
• í hádegi – more like during midday / around midday in some speakers’ usage

For a learner, using í hádeginu for at noon is the safest and most natural choice.

Could the word order change? For example, can I say Í hádeginu förum við á fund?

Yes, Icelandic word order is flexible, but it obeys some rules.

Your original sentence:

• Við förum á fund í hádeginu.
  Subject – Verb – Object – Time

You can front the time phrase for emphasis:

• Í hádeginu förum við á fund.
  At noon, we go to a meeting.

This is correct and natural, and it emphasizes the time.

Important word-order rule: Icelandic main clauses are usually verb-second:

• Whatever comes first (subject, adverbial, etc.), the finite verb (here förum) must come in second position.
• So:
  • Í hádeginu förum við á fund. – correct
  • Í hádeginu við förum á fund. – incorrect (verb is not second)

You generally do not break up the prepositional phrase á fund either, so forms like á í hádeginu fund would be ungrammatical.

How do I say the same sentence in the past or using a more explicit future form?

Using the past tense of fara:

• Við fórum á fund í hádeginu. – We went to a meeting at noon.

Past of fara (for reference):

• ég fór
• þú fórst
• hann / hún / það fór
• við fórum
• þið fóruð
• þeir / þær / þau fóru

For a more explicit future-like expression, you can use munu:

• Við munum fara á fund í hádeginu. – We will go to a meeting at noon.

However, in everyday Icelandic, for planned events you very often simply use the present tense with a time expression:

• Við förum á fund á morgun. – We are going to a meeting tomorrow.

Is á fund only used with fara, or can it appear with other verbs like vera?

Á fund and á fundi appear with several verbs; what changes is usually the case and the meaning.

Common patterns:

• fara á fund – go to a meeting (movement, accusative)
  • Ég fer á fund. – I go to a meeting.
• vera á fundi – be at a meeting (location, dative)
  • Ég er á fundi. – I am in a meeting.
• sitja á fundi – sit in a meeting / attend a meeting
  • Hann sat á fundi allan daginn. – He sat in a meeting all day.
• halda fund – hold a meeting
  • Við höldum fund í hádeginu. – We hold a meeting at noon.

So:

• á fund (accusative) tends to appear with movement verbs like fara.
• á fundi (dative) tends to appear with location/state verbs like vera, sitja.

How do you pronounce Við förum á fund í hádeginu?

Approximate Icelandic pronunciation (IPA):

• Við – /vɪð/
• förum – /ˈfœːrʏm/
• á – /au/
• fund – /fʏnt/ (often with a [t]-like ending)
• í – /iː/
• hádeginu – /ˈhauːteijɪnʏ/

Whole sentence, roughly:
/vɪð ˈfœːrʏm au fʏnt iː ˈhauːteijɪnʏ/

Very rough English-based approximation (only as a guide):

• Við – like vith (with a soft th as in this)
• förum – FUR-um, but with lips rounded more for ö
• á – like ow in cow
• fund – a bit like foont, but with a short u as in French lune
• í – like ee in see
• hádeginu – roughly HOW-day-yih-nu, with the main stress on HOW

Stress is on the first syllable of each content word: Við, FÖRum, Á, FUND, HÁdeginu.