Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

I start to learn Icelandic tonight.

Breakdown of Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

• ég: I
• læra: to learn
• í kvöld: tonight
• íslenska: the Icelandic language
• byrja: to begin

Questions & Answers about Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

Why is byrja in the present tense if the action is in the future (tonight)?

In Icelandic, the present tense is very often used to talk about the near future, just like in English:

• English: I start / I’m starting tonight.
• Icelandic: Ég byrja í kvöld.

So Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld is naturally understood as:

• I (am) start(ing) to learn Icelandic tonight.

You can also use explicit future forms:

• Ég mun byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.
• Ég ætla að byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

…but in everyday speech, the simple present with a time expression (í kvöld) is perfectly normal for future time.

What is the role of að in að læra? Is it like English to?

Yes. Here að is the infinitive marker, similar to English to before a verb:

• læra = to learn (dictionary form)
• að læra = literally to learn, with að marking the infinitive.

After many verbs (like byrja = to start), Icelandic typically uses að + infinitive:

• Ég byrja að læra. – I start to learn.
• Ég reyni að læra. – I try to learn.
• Ég vil læra. – I want to learn. (notice: no að after vil)

So in this sentence, að does not mean to / at / towards as a preposition; it’s just the infinitive particle before læra.

Why is it íslensku and not íslenska in this sentence?

Íslenska is a feminine noun meaning the Icelandic language. Nouns change form depending on case. After the verb læra (to learn), the language is in the accusative case (the typical direct‑object case).

• Nominative (dictionary form): íslenska
• Accusative (direct object): íslensku

So:

• Ég læri íslensku. – I learn Icelandic.
• Ég byrja að læra íslensku. – I am starting to learn Icelandic.

Using íslenska here (Ég byrja að læra íslenska) would be ungrammatical.

Is íslensku a noun or an adjective here? What’s the difference between íslensk, íslenska, and íslensku?

Here, íslensku is a noun (feminine) in the accusative case, meaning Icelandic (the language).

• íslensk – adjective: Icelandic, used before a noun
  
  • íslensk bók – an Icelandic book
  • íslenskur matur – Icelandic food (masc. form)
• íslenska – noun, nominative: Icelandic (the language)
  
  • Ég tala íslenska. – I speak Icelandic. (more formally: Ég tala íslensku.)
• íslensku – noun, accusative (also dative/genitive in some contexts)
  
  • Ég læri íslensku. – I learn Icelandic.

In Ég byrja að læra íslensku, you are learning the language, so the noun is used, in the accusative form íslensku.

Why isn’t íslensku capitalized like Icelandic in English?

In Icelandic, names of languages, nationalities, and adjectives formed from countries are not capitalized, unless they start a sentence.

So you write:

• íslenska, enska, franska, spænska
  (Icelandic, English, French, Spanish)

This is different from English, where Icelandic, English, French, Spanish are capitalized.

Why is it í kvöld and not something like á kvöld or just kvöld?

The expression for tonight / this evening is a fixed phrase:

• í kvöld – tonight (literally: in the evening)

Some common time expressions with prepositions:

• í kvöld – tonight
• í dag – today
• í gær – yesterday
• á morgun – tomorrow

So:

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld. – I start learning Icelandic tonight.

Saying just kvöld without í usually means an evening in a more general sense (kvöld = evening as a time of day), not “tonight”.

Can I move í kvöld earlier in the sentence, like in English?

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible for adverbials like time expressions. All of these are possible:

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.
• Í kvöld byrja ég að læra íslensku.
• Ég byrja í kvöld að læra íslensku. (less usual, but possible)

The most neutral, everyday version is the original:

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

Putting í kvöld at the beginning ( Í kvöld byrja ég… ) adds a bit of emphasis on tonight.

Is Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld the same as saying I will start learning Icelandic tonight?

Functionally, yes. The closest natural English translations are:

• I’m starting to learn Icelandic tonight.
• I start learning Icelandic tonight.
• I will start learning Icelandic tonight.

Icelandic doesn’t have a separate “will” future like English; it usually uses:

1. Present tense + time word

   • Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

2. Or a future auxiliary if you want to be explicit:

   • Ég mun byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.
   • Ég ætla að byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld. (I intend to start…)

Your original sentence is perfectly natural for the future.

Could I say Ég er að byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld to mean the same thing?

That would sound odd to a native speaker. Ég er að… is a kind of progressive aspect (“I am doing X right now”).

• Ég er að byrja að læra íslensku.
  – I am (right now) in the process of starting to learn Icelandic.

Adding í kvöld (tonight) clashes with this right now feeling.

So to talk about something that will begin tonight, you should stick with:

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.
• Ég mun / ætla að byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

Do I always need to say Ég? Can Icelandic drop the subject pronoun like Spanish?

No. Icelandic normally does not drop subject pronouns. You need to say Ég here:

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld. – correct

Omitting it:

• Byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.

…would sound like an imperative (a command): Start learning Icelandic tonight., or just incomplete.

So, unlike Spanish or Italian, Icelandic is not a “pro‑drop” language in modern usage.

Why is there no article like the before íslensku? Why not íslenskuna?

In Icelandic (and many other languages), you normally don’t use the definite article with language names when talking about knowing or learning them:

• Ég læri íslensku. – I learn Icelandic.
• Ég tala íslensku. – I speak Icelandic.

If you said íslenskuna, you would be referring to “the Icelandic (language) in some specific context”, which is unusual here and sounds off.

So no article is the standard way when the meaning is general: learning/speaking the language.

How do you pronounce the words in Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld?

Approximate (English‑friendly) pronunciations:

• Ég – roughly yeh (like “yeh” with a bit of a y sound)
• byrja – BIHR‑ya
  
  • y like in bit
  • stress on the first syllable: BYR‑ja
• að – often just a short a sound, the ð is very weak or silent here
• læra – LIE‑ra (like lie
  • ra), stress on læ
• íslensku – EES‑len‑skuh
  
  • í like ee
  • stress on ÍS: ÍS‑lensku
• í kvöld – ee kveLt
  
  • í = ee
  • kv like kv in kvetch
  • öld has a rounded vowel, roughly völt → kvöld ≈ kveLT (with a voiceless l)

Key points:

• Stress is almost always on the first syllable of each word.
• ð in að is very soft; many learners essentially treat it as silent in this phrase.

Are there other natural ways to say I’m going to start learning Icelandic tonight?

Yes, some common variants (all natural):

• Ég byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld.
• Ég ætla að byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld. – I intend / plan to start…
• Ég mun byrja að læra íslensku í kvöld. – I will start… (a bit more formal/explicit)

They all describe essentially the same plan, with slightly different emphasis on intent (ætla) or simple futurity (mun).