Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin.

In English the preposition is to (“listen to music”), but in Icelandic it is á. You can’t normally say Ég hlusta píanó without á; that sounds wrong.

Why is there no word for “the” before píanó?

In Icelandic, the definite article “the” is usually attached to the end of the noun, not put in front of it as a separate word.

píanó = a piano / piano (in general)
píanóið = the piano

In the sentence Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin, the speaker is talking about piano music in general, not one specific piano in the room, so the indefinite form píanó is natural.

If you specifically meant one particular piano, you could say:

Ég hlusta á píanóið á kvöldin. – I listen to the piano in the evenings.
(e.g. “that piano over there when someone plays it”)

Can I say píanóið instead of píanó here? What’s the difference?

Yes, grammatically you can:

Ég hlusta á píanóið á kvöldin.

The difference is nuance:

Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin.
→ I listen to piano (music) in general in the evenings.
Ég hlusta á píanóið á kvöldin.
→ I listen to the piano in the evenings – a specific piano, or piano playing that is understood as a specific source (e.g. the neighbour’s piano).

In practice, when you mean the type of music, Icelandic usually uses the indefinite form (píanó).

Does á govern a particular case here? What case is píanó in?

The preposition á can take either the accusative or dative case, depending on meaning and context.

With hlusta á, it takes the accusative:

hlusta á [accusative]

However, píanó is an indeclinable loanword (it doesn’t change form across cases), so nominative = accusative = dative = píanó. You don’t see the case ending, but it is understood to be accusative after hlusta á.

Compare:

hlusta á tónlist – listen to music
(tónlist is accusative here, but its form is also the same in nominative/accusative.)

How do I conjugate the verb hlusta?

Hlusta is a regular weak verb. Key present-tense forms:

Infinitive: að hlusta – to listen
Ég hlusta – I listen / I am listening
Þú hlustar – you (singular) listen
Hann / hún / það hlustar – he / she / it listens
Við hlustum – we listen
Þið hlustið – you (plural) listen
Þeir / þær / þau hlusta – they listen

Past tense (simple, for reference):

Ég hlustaði – I listened

Why does á kvöldin mean “in the evenings” and not “on the evenings”?

The phrase á kvöldin is an idiomatic time expression.

kvöld = evening (neuter)
kvöldin = the evenings (definite plural, accusative here)

Structure:

á
- accusative plural definite of a time word
  → repeated / habitual time: in the evenings, in the mornings, on Sundays, etc.

So:

á kvöldin – in the evenings (habitually, regularly)
á morgnana – in the mornings
á sunnudögum – on Sundays

It’s best to just learn á kvöldin as the natural Icelandic way to say “in the evenings”.

What is the difference between á kvöldin and í kvöld?

They refer to different kinds of time:

á kvöldin
→ in the evenings (in general, habitually)
Example: Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin. – I usually do this on most evenings.
í kvöld
→ this evening / tonight (one specific evening)
Example: Ég hlusta á píanó í kvöld. – I will listen to piano tonight (this particular evening).

So á kvöldin = repeated habit,
í kvöld = one specific evening.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Ég hlusta á kvöldin á píanó?

The normal word order is:

[Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Time phrase]
→ Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin.

You can move the time phrase earlier for emphasis:

Á kvöldin hlusta ég á píanó. – In the evenings, I listen to piano.

But Ég hlusta á kvöldin á píanó is not natural.
That order suggests you might be confusing it with spila á píanó (“play the piano”):

Ég spila á píanó á kvöldin. – I play the piano in the evenings.

For listening, keep:

hlusta á [what] … á [when]
→ hlusta á píanó á kvöldin.

Does the Icelandic present tense here mean “I listen” or “I am listening”?

It can mean both. Icelandic does not have a separate continuous tense like English.

Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin.
→ Usually understood as a habitual action: I listen to piano in the evenings.

If you add an adverb like núna (now), it sounds more like the English present continuous:

Ég hlusta á píanó núna. – I am listening to piano now.

Can Ég hlusta stand alone, without á píanó?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

Ég hlusta.
Literally: I listen.
This usually implies I pay attention / I’m a good listener in context, or it could mean “I am listening (to what you are saying).”

When you want to say what you listen to, you almost always add á + object:

Ég hlusta á píanó. – I listen to piano.
Ég hlusta á þig. – I listen to you.

What’s the pronunciation of this sentence for an English speaker?

Approximate IPA and notes:

Ég – [jɛiːɣ]
- Starts with a y sound [j], then a diphthong like “yei”, ends with a soft voiced velar fricative [ɣ] (like a soft g in the throat).
hlusta – [ˈl̥ʏsta]
- hl-: voiceless l; no audible h; tongue on the alveolar ridge, air passes around sides.
- u = [ʏ], similar to German ü; between English “u” in “put” and French “u”.
á – [auː]
- Like “ow” in “cow”, but a bit tenser and longer.
píanó – [ˈpʰiːaˌnouː]
- Fairly close to English “piano”; p is aspirated [pʰ].
á kvöldin – [auː ˈkʰvœl̥tɪn]
- kv- is like “kv” in “kvetch”.
- ö = [œ], like German ö or French eu in “peur”.
- The d is part of a consonant cluster [l̥t]; you don’t fully pronounce an English-style d.

So a rough English-friendly rendering might be:
“Yei-gh hlusta ow p-yi-a-no ow kveultin.”

What is the difference between hlusta á píanó and spila á píanó?

hlusta á píanó
→ listen to piano (music)
Subject is the listener.
spila á píanó
→ play the piano
Subject is the player.

Example contrast:

Ég hlusta á píanó á kvöldin. – I listen to piano in the evenings.
Ég spila á píanó á kvöldin. – I play the piano in the evenings.

Both use the preposition á, but the verbs are different: hlusta = listen, spila = play (an instrument, a game, etc.).

Are there similar habitual time expressions like á kvöldin that I can learn as a pattern?

Yes. This is a common pattern:

á + definite plural of a time noun → habitual time (“in the Xs / on Xs”)

Some useful ones:

á morgnana – in the mornings
á daginn – in the daytime
á kvöldin – in the evenings
á næturnar – at nights
á sunnudögum – on Sundays
á virkum dögum – on weekdays

So you can say, for example:

Ég les bækur á kvöldin. – I read books in the evenings.
Ég fer í ræktina á morgnana. – I go to the gym in the mornings.