Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Önnur regla er að slökkva á símanum í matnum. - Another rule is to turn off the phone during meals.

The base word is annar:
- masculine: annar
- feminine: önnur
- neuter: annað
Regla (a rule) is a feminine noun, so the adjective must agree in gender:
- önnur regla = “another rule”
  (literally “other rule”)
In many real contexts, when you’re listing rules, Önnur regla will be understood as:
- “The second rule is …” (after Fyrsta regla … = “First rule …”)
  but outside that list context, it can simply mean:
- “Another rule is …”

So Önnur is just “other / another / second” agreeing in gender with regla.

What is the role of að in að slökkva? Is it the same as English “to”?

Yes, here að is functioning much like “to” in English before an infinitive verb.

slökkva = “(to) turn off, extinguish”
að slökkva = “to turn off”

In this sentence:

Önnur regla er að slökkva á símanum í matnum.
Another/The second rule is to turn off the phone at dinner.

The structure is:

er (is) + að
- infinitive (slökkva)

This að + infinitive acts like a noun phrase, just as in English:

“to turn off the phone at dinner” is what the rule is.

So you can think of að before a verb as the normal infinitive marker, roughly equivalent to English “to” in this kind of construction.

Why do we say að slökkva á símanum and not something like að slökkva símann?

The verb slökkva (“to turn off, extinguish”) can be used in two main ways:

Direct object (no preposition) – more like “extinguish”:
- slökkva eldinn – “put out the fire”
- slökkva ljósið – “turn off the light”
With the preposition á + dative – especially with electronic devices:
- slökkva á símanum – “turn off the phone”
- slökkva á tölvunni – “turn off the computer”
- slökkva á sjónvarpinu – “turn off the TV”

For phones, computers, TVs, etc., slökkva á [device (dative)] is the most natural everyday expression.
You can sometimes see a direct object form (e.g. slökkva símann), but slökkva á símanum is the standard, idiomatic way to say it.

So the preposition á here is part of the normal pattern of the verb: slökkva á e-u = “turn something off” (device, system), with e-u in the dative case.

Why is it símanum and not síminn or símann?

Because of case and the use of the preposition á.

The noun sími (“phone”) is masculine. Its key singular forms with the definite article are:

Nominative: síminn – “the phone” (subject)
Accusative: símann – “the phone” (direct object)
Dative: símanum – “the phone” (after certain prepositions, like here)

The phrase is:

slökkva á símanum – “turn off the phone”

In this construction:

á is a preposition that (in this idiom) takes the dative case.
So we must use the dative definite form: símanum.

That’s why it isn’t síminn (nominative) or símann (accusative), but símanum (dative).

Why do we use á with símanum, but í with matnum?

They answer different questions:

á símanum
- Comes from the verb pattern slökkva á e-u = “turn off something” (a device).
- Here á is just part of the fixed verb–preposition combination:
  - slökkva á símanum – “turn off the phone”
í matnum
- í literally means “in / inside / at (in time or space)”.
- With matur (“meal, food”), í matnum is understood as “at the meal / during the meal”, i.e. “at dinner” in this context.

So:

á símanum is chosen because slökkva normally uses á + dative with devices.
í matnum is chosen because we’re talking about being at / during a meal, and í is the standard preposition for “in/at” in this time / situation sense.

What does í matnum literally mean, and how does that become “at dinner”?

Literally, í matnum is:

í = in / at
matur = food, a meal
matnum = “the meal / the food” (dative singular with the article)

So the literal meaning is “in the meal” or “in the food”.

But in context, Icelandic often uses í + a time/situation word to mean “during / at (that time/event)”, for example:

í vinnunni – at work / while at work
í skólanum – at school / while at school
í frímínútunum – during the break

Similarly:

í matnum naturally means “during the meal / at dinner (time)”.

So in this sentence, í matnum is best translated as “at dinner” or “during meals”, not literally “in the meal”.

Why is it matnum and not something like maturinn?

Again, this is about case, and also about how the definite article is added.

The noun matur (“food; a meal”) is masculine. Relevant singular forms:

Nominative: matur – “meal”
- Definite: maturinn – “the meal” (as subject)
Accusative: mat
- Definite: matinn
Dative: mat
- Definite: matnum

In í matnum, the preposition í is expressing a location / time (“in/at the meal”), so it takes the dative case. Therefore we use:

dative definite: matnum

So í matnum = “in/at the meal”.
If we said maturinn, that would be nominative (subject case), which doesn’t fit after í.

Why is there no separate word for “the” in símanum and matnum?

Icelandic usually doesn’t use a separate word like English “the.”
Instead, it attaches the definite article as an ending to the noun.

You can see this in both nouns here:

sími (phone):
- sími – phone
- síminn – the phone (nom.)
- símanum – the phone (dat.)
matur (meal, food):
- matur – meal
- maturinn – the meal (nom.)
- matnum – the meal (dat.)

In the sentence:

á símanum = á
- síma
  - -num → “on the phone”
í matnum = í
- mat
  - -num → “in/at the meal”

So the “the” meaning is built into the -inn / -num endings, not a separate word.

Could we also say „Önnur regla er að slökkva á símanum við matinn“ instead of „í matnum“? Does it change the meaning?

You can say:

Önnur regla er að slökkva á símanum við matinn.

This is understandable and quite natural. The nuance is slightly different:

í matnum – literally “in/at the meal”, commonly understood as “during the meal / at dinner”.
við matinn – literally “by/at the meal”, felt more like “when we’re eating / at mealtime”, with a stronger sense of being “at” that activity.

Both can be translated as “at dinner” or “during meals” in English.
The original í matnum is perfectly idiomatic; við matinn is just a slightly different stylistic choice, not a big meaning change.

Can we change the word order in að slökkva á símanum í matnum? For example, can í matnum go earlier?

Neutral, natural word order is:

að slökkva á símanum í matnum
“to turn off the phone at dinner”

Within that phrase:

slökkva (verb) tends to be followed right away by its fixed prepositional complement á símanum.
Extra information like time/situation (í matnum) usually comes after that.

You could technically move í matnum earlier:

að í matnum slökkva á símanum

but this sounds marked or poetic / emphatic, not like normal everyday speech.

So for standard, neutral Icelandic, keep:

að slökkva á símanum í matnum
[verb + its complement] + [time/situation phrase]

How are the main words in the sentence pronounced?

Approximate pronunciations (in a rough English-style notation):

Önnur – [“uhn-nur”], with the ö like a blend between “uh” and French “eu” in “peur”.
regla – [“REG-la”], g like in “get”.
slökkva – [“SLUHK-kva”], with a short, rounded ö (like above) and a double kk (short, strong k).
símanum – [“SEE-ma-num”], long í like “see”.
matnum – [“MAHT-num”], a like “a” in “father” (shorter), and tn pronounced together.

So the whole sentence:

Önnur regla er að slökkva á símanum í matnum.

is roughly:

“UHN-nur REG-la ehr ath SLUHK-kva ow SEE-ma-num ee MAHT-num.”