Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hún bakar líka brauð í ofninum á laugardögum. - She also bakes bread in the oven on Saturdays.

Hún líka bakar brauð… – She also bakes bread (as well as someone else). Focus on her.
Hún bakar brauð líka í ofninum. – She bakes bread in the oven too (maybe she also bakes it in a pan, etc.). Focus on in the oven.

The given sentence is the most neutral: also modifies the whole action “bakes bread in the oven on Saturdays.”

Why is there no word for “the” in brauð, but there is in ofninum?

Icelandic usually attaches definite articles as endings, not as separate words:

ofn – oven
ofninn – the oven (nominative/accusative)
ofninum – in the oven (dative + definite: “in the oven”)

In the sentence, only the oven is definite: í ofninum = in the oven.

Brauð means “bread” (a mass noun here), and it’s indefinite, so there’s no article:

brauð – bread
brauðið – the bread

English says “bakes bread” without “the”, and Icelandic matches that here: bakar brauð.

Is brauð singular or plural here? Can it mean “a loaf of bread”?

Brauð is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative forms are the same in singular and plural:

singular: (eitt) brauð – one bread / one loaf
plural: (tvö) brauð – two breads / two loaves

In practice, in a sentence like Hún bakar brauð, it’s understood as “bread” in a general or mass sense (she bakes bread, not specifically counting loaves). Context can make it more specific, e.g.:

Hún bakar tvö brauð. – She bakes two loaves (literally “two breads”).
Hún bakar brauðið. – She bakes the bread.

Why is it í ofninum and not something like í ofninn?

The preposition í (“in/into”) can take accusative or dative:

Accusative: movement into something – í ofninn = into the oven
Dative: being in something (location) – í ofninum = in the oven

In this sentence, she is baking in the oven, not moving something into it as the main focus, so í ofninum (dative) is correct.

Also, -inum on ofninum shows both dative case and definiteness (“the oven”).

What exactly does the ending -inum in ofninum mean?

Ofninum breaks down as:

ofn – oven (nominative/accusative singular, indefinite)
ofni- – oven (dative singular stem)
-num / -inum – definite ending for dative singular masculine

So:

í ofni – in an oven (dative, indefinite)
í ofninum – in the oven (dative, definite)

The -inum marks both case (dative) and “the”.

Why is it á laugardögum and what does the -um ending mean?

Laugardögum is dative plural of laugardagur (“Saturday”).

Days of the week with á + dative plural usually mean something habitual or repeated:

á laugardögum – on Saturdays (every Saturday / usually on Saturdays)

The -um ending is the regular dative plural ending for many masculine nouns:

laugardagur – Saturday (nom. sg.)
laugardögum – Saturdays (dat. pl.)

So á laugardögum conveys a repeated action: she doesn’t just do it once, she bakes on Saturdays in general.

How would I say “on Saturday” (one specific Saturday) instead of “on Saturdays”?

For a single, specific Saturday, Icelandic uses accusative singular with á:

á laugardaginn – on Saturday (this/that particular Saturday)

Compare:

Hún bakar líka brauð í ofninum á laugardögum.
– She also bakes bread in the oven on Saturdays (habitually).
Hún bakar líka brauð í ofninum á laugardaginn.
– She is also baking bread in the oven on Saturday (this specific one).

Can the time expression á laugardögum go at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Icelandic often puts time expressions at the start for emphasis or structure:

Á laugardögum bakar hún líka brauð í ofninum.

This still means “On Saturdays, she also bakes bread in the oven.”
The difference is emphasis: you highlight “On Saturdays” as the topic. Grammatically, both word orders are fine:

Neutral: Hún bakar líka brauð í ofninum á laugardögum.
Time-first / more emphatic: Á laugardögum bakar hún líka brauð í ofninum.

What is the role of á here, and how is it different from í?

Both á and í are very common prepositions:

í – usually “in / into”
- í ofninum – in the oven
á – often “on / at”, and also used for days and dates
- á laugardögum – on Saturdays

So in the sentence:

í tells you the place: in the oven,
á tells you the time: on Saturdays.

How do you pronounce laugardögum? It looks difficult.

Approximate pronunciation (IPA): [ˈløyːɣarˌdœyɣʏm]. Key points:

au in laug- is a diphthong, pronounced like German “öy” or roughly like English “uh” + “y”: [œy].
g before d is often a soft /ɣ/ sound, something between English g and h.
ð is the soft th sound /ð/ (like this), but often very weak in fast speech, almost disappearing.
Stress is on the first syllable: LÆU-gar-dö-gum.

Learners often just aim for something like “LOY-gar-doy-gum”, which is close enough to be understood.

Does líka here mean the same as English “too / as well”?

Yes. In this sentence:

Hún bakar líka brauð í ofninum á laugardögum.

Líka functions like “also / too / as well”. Typical uses:

Ég borða kjöt. Hún borðar líka kjöt.
– I eat meat. She eats meat too / as well.
Hún bakar kökur og hún bakar líka brauð.
– She bakes cakes and she also bakes bread.

Same idea here: she does something in addition to some other action or habit that you were talking about before.