Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.

I look at the news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.

Breakdown of Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.

• ég: I
• á: on
• á: in
• íslenskur: Icelandic
• morguninn: the morning
• skoða: to look at
• frétt: the news
• vefsíða: the website

Questions & Answers about Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.

Why is the verb skoða used here, and how is it different from lesa (“to read”)?

Skoða literally means “to look at, examine, check, browse”.

In context, Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana is naturally understood as:

• “I check/browse the news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.”

Nuance compared to lesa:

• lesa fréttir – to read the news (focus on actual reading of text).
• skoða fréttir – to look over / browse / check the news (maybe scanning headlines, not necessarily reading every article in depth).

Both are correct; you choose based on what you want to express:

• If you carefully read articles: Ég les fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
• If you mostly scan or check them: Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.

Why is it Ég skoða and not something like Ég er að skoða (like English “I am looking at”)?

Icelandic uses the simple present much more than English does.

• Ég skoða fréttir á morgnana = “I (usually) check the news in the mornings.”
  • Present tense = habitual/repeated action.
• Ég er að skoða fréttir corresponds more closely to “I am (currently) checking/looking at the news (right now).”

So:

• For a habit/routine, Icelandic prefers the simple present: Ég skoða…
• Ég er að skoða… is used for an ongoing action at the moment of speaking.

What is going on with fréttir? Why is it plural, and what case is it in?

Fréttir is:

• the plural of frétt (a piece of news / news item),
• in the accusative plural case.

The verb skoða takes a direct object in the accusative:

• að skoða eitthvað – to look at/check something.

Declension (simplified):

• Singular:
  
  • nominative: frétt
  • accusative: frétt
• Plural:
  
  • nominative: fréttir
  • accusative: fréttir

So in Ég skoða fréttir, fréttir is accusative plural object = “(the) news / news items.”

It is very common in Icelandic to talk about news in the plural like this, just as in English we might say “I read the headlines” (plural) rather than just “a headline.”

Why is it á íslenskri vefsíðu and not something with another preposition like í?

On the internet, Icelandic uses á in places where English uses “on”:

• á vefsíðu – on a website
• á Facebook, á netinu – on Facebook, on the internet

So:

• á
  • dative is used here to mean a location: on a website (where I do the checking).

That’s why we have:

• á (preposition)
• íslenskri vefsíðu (dative singular, feminine)

If you said í íslenskri vefsíðu, it would sound like “inside an Icelandic website”, which is not how Icelandic expresses this concept. The natural idiom is á vefsíðu.

Why is it íslenskri vefsíðu and not íslensk vefsíða? What is -ri doing there?

This is adjective–noun agreement in case, gender, and number.

• vefsíða is a feminine noun.
• In the phrase á íslenskri vefsíðu, the preposition á (with location) requires the dative case.

• So both the adjective íslenskur and the noun vefsíða must be in feminine dative singular:

  • Nominative: íslensk vefsíða (“an Icelandic website” – subject form)
  • Dative: íslenskri vefsíðu (“on an Icelandic website” after á)

Forms:

• íslenskur (m. nom. sg.) – base form in dictionaries
• íslensk (f. nom. sg.)
• íslenskri (f. dat. sg.) ← used here
• vefsíða (nom. sg.)
• vefsíðu (dat. sg.) ← used here

So á íslenskri vefsíðu literally: “on [an] Icelandic website”, with everything in dative because of á (location).

Could I say á íslenskri vefsíðunni instead? What is the difference?

Yes, you could, but the meaning changes slightly.

• á íslenskri vefsíðu
  
  • Indefinite: on an Icelandic website (not a specific one, or it’s not important which).
• á íslenskri vefsíðunni
  
  • Definite: on the Icelandic website (a particular one that speaker and listener know about).

The -inni ending on vefsíðunni is the definite article (“the”) attached to the noun in the dative singular feminine:

• vefsíða → vefsíðunni (dat. sg. definite)

So you choose:

• Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
  → “I check news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.”
• Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðunni á morgnana.
  → “I check news on the Icelandic website in the mornings.”

What exactly does á morgnana mean, and why that form instead of just á morgna or á morgni?

Á morgnana means “in the mornings / on (the) mornings” in the sense of a repeated, habitual action.

Breakdown:

• morgunn = “morning” (noun, masculine)
• morgnana = accusative plural definite (“the mornings”)

Preposition á + accusative plural of a time word often expresses a repeated or typical time frame:

• á morgnana – in the mornings (habitually)
• á kvöldin – in the evenings
• á nóttunni – at night (usually)

Compare:

• á morgni (dative singular) – in the morning (more like one specific morning / a single occasion, or more formal/literary)
• á morgnana (acc. pl. definite) – on mornings, in the mornings (as a routine)

So in this sentence, á morgnana tells you this is a regular habit.

Can I leave out á and just say Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu morgnana?

No; that would be wrong or at least sound very unnatural.

The time expression “in the mornings” needs the preposition á with this construction:

• á morgnana = “in the mornings”

Without á, morgnana would just be sitting there as an accusative plural definite noun with no clear role. So you must keep:

• á morgnana (complete time phrase)

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Ég skoða á morgnana fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu?

The word order is somewhat flexible, but some options are much more natural than others.

The default, most natural order:

• Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.

You can usually move time/place adverbials around:

• Ég skoða fréttir á morgnana á íslenskri vefsíðu. (okay)
• Á morgnana skoða ég fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu. (also fine; puts emphasis on “in the mornings”)

But your example:

• Ég skoða á morgnana fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu.

is possible but sounds a bit clumsy and marked; Icelanders prefer not to split the verb and its object (skoða fréttir) with á morgnana in the middle in this kind of simple sentence.

As a rule of thumb:

1. Subject early (Ég)
2. Finite verb second (skoða) – Icelandic is generally verb-second (V2).
3. Then object (fréttir)
4. Then place/time phrases (á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana), which can be swapped for emphasis but usually go towards the end.

Why is skoða in the simple present? Does it mean I am doing it right now or that I usually do it?

In this sentence, skoða in the present tense refers to a habitual action:

• Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
  → “I (normally) check the news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.”

Icelandic simple present is used for:

• Current actions:
  
  • Ég skoða fréttir núna. – “I’m checking the news now.”
• Habits / routines:
  
  • Ég skoða fréttir á morgnana. – “I (regularly) check the news in the mornings.”

The context (especially á morgnana) makes it clear it’s a routine, not just a one-time action.

How do you pronounce Ég skoða fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana? Especially Ég, ð, and the rr in fréttir?

Approximate pronunciation (not strict IPA):

• Ég ≈ “yeh” with a long vowel and a soft g at the end: something like “yegh”.
• skoða ≈ “SKOH-tha”
  
  • ð is a soft “th” as in English “this”, but often very soft, almost like a voiced friction, not a hard consonant.
• fréttir ≈ “FRYET-tir”
  
  • frj‑ / fré‑ is like “frye/ fret-y”; many learners hear something close to “fryettir”.
  • The tt before i often becomes a kind of [ht] or [t̚ʰ]; you might hear something like “frjehtir”.
• á ≈ “ow” in “cow” (but shorter/cleaner).
• íslenskri ≈ “EES-lensk-ri” (with rolled or tapped r).
• vefsíðu ≈ “VEV-see-thu” (the ð again like soft “th”).
• morgnana ≈ “MORG-na-na” (with a rolled/tapped r and a somewhat reduced gn cluster).

Important consonants for learners:

• ð: voiced th (like this), often quite soft.
• r: rolled or tapped.
• Final g in Ég is not like a hard English g; it’s a softer, fricative sound.

Are there other natural ways to say this same idea in Icelandic?

Yes, several variations are possible, with slightly different nuances:

1. Change the verb:

   • Ég les fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
     → “I read the news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.” (focus on reading)
   • Ég fylgist með fréttum á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
     → “I keep up with the news on an Icelandic website in the mornings.”

2. Change the object:

   • Ég skoða fréttaveitur á íslenskri vefsíðu á morgnana.
     → “I check news feeds on an Icelandic website in the mornings.”
   • Ég skoða fréttir á netinu á morgnana.
     → “I check the news on the internet in the mornings.”

3. Slight stylistic shuffle:

   • Á morgnana skoða ég fréttir á íslenskri vefsíðu.
     (emphasis on “in the mornings”)

All of these are natural; your original sentence is already perfectly idiomatic and clear.