Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Ég les stundum tímarit í strætó í stað þess að tala við fólk. - I sometimes read a magazine on the bus instead of talking to people.

So í stað þess að tala (við fólk) is literally “in place of that to talk (with people)”, which corresponds to English “instead of talking (to/with people)”.

Grammatically:

í stað is a prepositional phrase that governs the genitive, so it needs þess in the genitive.
að tala is an infinitive clause acting like a noun phrase (talking).
Together, í stað þess að tala við fólk is a prepositional phrase: “instead of talking to people.”

Why do you need þess in í stað þess að? Could you say í stað að tala við fólk?

You do need þess here. Standard Icelandic does not say í stað að tala.

Reason:

The phrase í stað behaves like “because of”, “in spite of”, etc., which also use a genitive pronoun:
- vegna þess að – because
- í stað þess að – instead of
í stað governs the genitive, so it wants þess after it.

So the pattern is:

í stað + genitive (þess) + að + infinitive

Correct:

Í stað þess að tala við fólk…

Incorrect (in standard language):

Í stað að tala við fólk…

What form is tala here, and how does að work before it?

Tala here is the infinitive form of the verb að tala (to speak, to talk).

In Icelandic, að placed directly before a verb usually marks the infinitive, similar to to in English (to talk).
After expressions like í stað þess að, you always use the infinitive:
- í stað þess að tala – instead of talking
- í stað þess að lesa – instead of reading

With -a verbs like tala, the infinitive and 1st person singular present look the same (tala), but the presence of að tells you it is the infinitive here.

Why is it í strætó and not á strætó when you mean “on the bus”?

The preposition choice here is mostly idiomatic:

í strætó literally means “in the bus”, but it is the standard, natural way to say “on the bus” as a means of transport.
á strætó would sound wrong in this meaning; á would suggest being on top of the bus or is simply not used with this noun in this sense.

So, for travelling by bus / being on a bus, Icelandic uses:

í strætó – “on the bus”
more formal: í strætisvagni – in a bus / on the bus

This is similar to English saying “on the bus” although you are physically in it. Icelandic chooses í here.

What case does í take in í strætó, and what kind of word is strætó?

The preposition í can take either accusative or dative, depending on meaning:

Accusative – movement into something
- Ég fer í strætó. – I go into the bus / I get on the bus.
Dative – location in something
- Ég er í strætó. – I am on/in the bus.

In your sentence, í strætó describes where you read (location), so it’s dative.

As for strætó:

It is a colloquial noun for “bus”, shortened from strætisvagn.
In everyday speech, strætó is often treated as indeclinable, so its form doesn’t change with case: í strætó, úr strætó, með strætó.
Formally, you can use strætisvagn and decline it clearly:
- í strætisvagni – in/on a bus (dative)
- í strætisvagninum – in/on the bus (dative, definite)

Why is there no word for “the” before strætó or fólk in this sentence?

Icelandic handles definiteness differently from English:

There is no separate word like English a or the.
Instead, definiteness is usually shown with a suffix on the noun:
- tímarit – a magazine / magazines
- tímaritið – the magazine
- tímaritin – the magazines

In í strætó and við fólk, the nouns are indefinite and generic:

í strætó – on the bus / on buses (in general, as a way of getting around)
við fólk – with people (people in general, not some specific group we’ve already identified)

If you wanted to refer to some specific, known group, you might use a definite form, e.g.:

við fólkið – with the people (that we have in mind, a specific group)

Is tímarit singular or plural here, and how can you tell?

Tímarit is a neuter noun, and in neuter nouns the nominative and accusative singular and plural can look the same:

Singular: tímarit – (a) magazine
Plural (nom./acc.): tímarit – magazines

So Ég les stundum tímarit can mean either:

“I sometimes read a magazine”
or
“I sometimes read magazines”

In practice, context usually makes “magazines” the more natural interpretation here.

To force one meaning:

clearly singular:
- Ég les stundum tímarit – ambiguous
- Ég les stundum eitt tímarit. – I sometimes read one magazine.
- Ég les stundum tímaritið. – I sometimes read the magazine.
clearly plural:
- Ég les stundum nokkur tímarit. – I sometimes read a few magazines.
- Ég les stundum tímaritin. – I sometimes read the magazines.

What exactly does les mean here, and how does tense/aspect work compared to English “I sometimes read…”?

Les is the 1st person singular present of the verb að lesa (to read):

ég les – I read
þú lest – you (sg.) read
við lesum – we read

In your sentence, Ég les stundum tímarit…, the Icelandic present tense covers both:

I read magazines sometimes (habitual)
I sometimes read magazines (habitual; no separate “simple” vs “progressive” like English)

Icelandic does not regularly use a separate “am reading” form for ongoing actions. Context and adverbs like stundum (“sometimes”) give the nuance instead of an explicit progressive tense.

Where can the adverb stundum go in the sentence? Is Ég stundum les tímarit… correct?

Icelandic main clauses follow a verb-second (V2) rule: the finite verb should be in second position.

Neutral word order:

Ég les stundum tímarit í strætó.
Subject – finite verb – adverb – object – place

You can move stundum to the front for emphasis, but the verb must stay second:

Stundum les ég tímarit í strætó. – Sometimes I read magazines on the bus.

However, Ég stundum les tímarit… breaks the V2 rule (verb is third) and sounds wrong or very unnatural in standard Icelandic.

So the natural options are:

Ég les stundum tímarit í strætó.
Stundum les ég tímarit í strætó. (emphasis on “sometimes”)

Why is it tala við fólk and not tala með fólki?

The choice of preposition is governed by fixed verb–preposition combinations:

tala við e-n – to talk to / speak with someone (as an interlocutor)
tala saman – to talk together
tala um e-ð – to talk about something

For speaking to/with people, Icelandic uses tala við + accusative.

Með with people is used differently (e.g. vera með fólki – to be with people, fara með fólki – go with people). Tala með would not normally mean “to talk with someone” in the conversational sense.

So:

tala við fólk – to talk to people (have a conversation with them)
is the idiomatic expression here.

What case is fólk in við fólk, and what kind of noun is fólk?

The preposition við normally takes the accusative.

Fólk is a neuter noun meaning “people” (as a group, mass noun):

Nominative: fólk
Accusative: fólk
Dative: fólki
Genitive: fólks

In við fólk, fólk is in the accusative, but its accusative looks the same as the nominative.

Also:

fólk is a mass/generic noun: “people” in general.
To talk about individual persons, you might use manneskja (person), maður (man/person in some contexts), einstaklingur (individual), etc.

Could you replace fólk with something like fólkið or manneskjur? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you could, and it would change the nuance:

við fólk
- with people (in general), not a specific group.
- matches English “talk to people” as a general activity.
við fólkið
- literally “with the people”.
- Refers to a particular group already known from context:
  - e.g. instead of talking to *the people (we were just talking about).*
við manneskjur (acc. pl. of manneskja – person)
- with persons / human beings (emphasizing individual people rather than a crowd).
- Sounds a bit more individual and concrete than generic fólk.

So:

við fólk – general, habitual: “with people (in general)”
við fólkið – specific group: “with the people”
við manneskjur – with individual people, somewhat more personal/concrete.

Is there another natural way to say instead of talking to people on the bus, and how would the word order change if you wanted to emphasize the “instead of” part?

A common alternative to í stað þess að is:

í staðinn fyrir að tala við fólk – literally “instead for to talk to people”

So you could say:

Ég les stundum tímarit í strætó í staðinn fyrir að tala við fólk.

If you want to emphasize the contrast (“instead of talking…”), you can pull the í stað þess að phrase to the front (but keep the verb second):

Í stað þess að tala við fólk í strætó les ég stundum tímarit.
Instead of talking to people on the bus, I sometimes read magazines.

Here the focus is strongly on the choice: you are choosing reading magazines over talking to people.