Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Við sækjum netnámskeið í íslensku saman á kvöldin. - We attend an online course in Icelandic together in the evenings.

In this sentence, við sækjum netnámskeið means “we attend an online course” (or “we take an online course”). The subject við (we) matches the form sækjum (we attend).

Why is it í íslensku and not í íslenska?

Íslenska is a feminine noun meaning the Icelandic language. Its singular forms are:

Nominative: íslenska
Accusative: íslensku
Dative: íslensku
Genitive: íslensku

The preposition í can take dative when it means “in, inside (location or medium)”.
Here it means “in Icelandic (language)”, so it takes the dative:

í íslensku = in Icelandic (in the Icelandic language)

That’s why you see íslensku, not íslenska.

What exactly is netnámskeið, and why is it one word?

Netnámskeið is a compound noun:

net = net / online
námskeið = course, class (literally something like “study-session”)

Together: netnámskeið = online course.

Icelandic very often writes what would be two English words as one compound word, especially with nouns. So instead of “net námskeið”, you join them into netnámskeið.

Grammatically here:

It’s neuter.
It’s singular.
It is in the accusative case as the direct object of sækjum:
Við sækjum netnámskeið … = We attend an online course …

Why isn’t there an article like “a” or “the” with netnámskeið?

Icelandic doesn’t use separate words for “a/the”; instead it uses a suffix for the definite article and no article at all for the indefinite.

For a neuter noun like netnámskeið:

Indefinite singular: netnámskeið = a(n) online course or just online course
Definite singular: netnámskeiðið = the online course

In the sentence, you have netnámskeið without any ending, so it’s indefinite:

Við sækjum netnámskeið …
can be translated as “We attend an online course …” (or more loosely “We take online classes …” if you think of it that way).

What does á kvöldin literally mean, and why is kvöldin plural and definite?

Á kvöldin literally uses:

á = on / at (here, at in a time expression)
kvöld = evening
kvöldin = the evenings (definite plural form)

So á kvöldin is literally on the evenings, but idiomatically it means:

“in the evenings” / “at night (in the evenings)”

Using the definite plural in time expressions like this is very common in Icelandic:

á morgnana = in the mornings
á sunnudögunum = on Sundays
á kvöldin = in the evenings

So the plural + definite ending -in here doesn’t mean a specific set of evenings; it’s a habitual “in the evenings (generally)”.

Which cases do í and á take here, and why do they look different: í íslensku vs á kvöldin?

Both í and á can take either accusative or dative, depending on meaning.

Í íslensku
- í
  - dative when it means “in (inside, within, in a medium/language)”
- íslensku is dative singular of íslenska
  → í íslensku = in Icelandic (language)
Á kvöldin
- With time expressions, á commonly takes the accusative.
- kvöldin is accusative definite plural of kvöld
  → á kvöldin = in the evenings

So:

í + dative (medium / language): í íslensku
á + accusative (time: on/at X time): á kvöldin

What does saman do in the sentence, and could it be placed somewhere else?

Saman is an adverb meaning “together”.

In the sentence:

Við sækjum netnámskeið í íslensku saman á kvöldin.
→ saman modifies how við sækjum (we attend): we attend together.

You can move saman, but some positions sound more natural than others. For example:

Við sækjum saman netnámskeið í íslensku á kvöldin. – quite natural
Við sækjum netnámskeið saman í íslensku á kvöldin. – also possible, but a bit less smooth

The original placement … í íslensku saman á kvöldin is normal and easy to process: it clearly applies to við (we) as a group doing the activity together.

What is the difference between við and okkur, and why is við used here?

Both relate to “we/us”, but they are different cases:

við = we (nominative, subject form)
okkur = us (accusative/dative form, object/indirect object form)

In this sentence:

Við is the subject: the people who are attending the course.
The verb is therefore conjugated as sækjum (we attend).

If you needed “us” as an object, you would use okkur, for example:

Kennarinn hjálpar okkur. = The teacher helps us.

Why isn’t íslensku capitalized like “Icelandic” is in English?

In English, names of languages are capitalized: English, Icelandic, French.

In Icelandic, names of languages are not capitalized unless they start a sentence:

íslenska = Icelandic (language)
danska = Danish
enska = English

So í íslensku is written with a lowercase íslensku, which is normal and correct in Icelandic.

How would the sentence change in the past or future tense?

The verb sækja changes; the rest can stay the same.

Present (given):
Við sækjum netnámskeið í íslensku saman á kvöldin.
→ We attend an online course in Icelandic together in the evenings.
Past (simple past):
Við sóttum netnámskeið í íslensku saman á kvöldin.
→ We attended / used to attend an online course in Icelandic together in the evenings.
(Note the stem change sæk- → sótt-.)
Future (using “will”):
Icelandic often uses munu
- infinitive:
- Við munum sækja netnámskeið í íslensku saman á kvöldin.
  → We will attend an online course in Icelandic together in the evenings.

How do you pronounce sækjum and netnámskeið roughly?

Very roughly, using English-like approximations:

sækjum
- sæ: like sigh but a bit tenser
- kjum: kyoom (with a palatal-ish k, somewhat like ky
  - oom)
    → Approx: “sigh-kyoom” (one stress on the first syllable: SÆ-kjum)
netnámskeið
- net: like English net
- nám: like nowm (with a long á, a bit like “naum”)
- skeið: skaithe (the ei is like ei in eight, and ð is a soft th-sound as in this)
  → Approx: “NET-nowm-skaithe” (stress on the first element: NET-námskeið)

These are only approximations; Icelandic has its own sound system and prosody, but this gives you a rough idea.