Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Mitt markmið í ár er að tala íslensku á hverjum degi. - My goal this year is to speak Icelandic every day.

í ár = this year (the current year)
- Very common, short, everyday expression.
- Refers to the current calendar year as a whole.
á þessu ári = in this year / during this year
- Slightly more formal or explicit.
- Often used when contrasting with other years or emphasizing during this particular year.

In your sentence, “Mitt markmið í ár …” sounds completely natural and is what people would typically say in everyday speech.

What is the function of “er að tala” here? Is this like a progressive tense (“is speaking”)?

Here the structure is:

er – the verb “to be”
að tala – infinitive “to speak” (with að as the infinitive marker)

Together in this sentence, “er að tala íslensku” is not a progressive tense like English “is speaking” in the right now sense. Instead, it is:

“is to speak Icelandic”

So the pattern is:

Mitt markmið … er að [infinitive]
→ My goal … is to [infinitive]

This is the same structure you’d use with other verbs:

Markmiðið mitt er að læra meira. – My goal is to learn more.
Markmiðið er að fara til Íslands. – The goal is to go to Iceland.

So here “er að tala” is simply “is to speak”, not a continuous tense.

What does “að” do in “að tala”?

að in “að tala” is the infinitive marker, similar to “to” in English “to speak”.

tala = speak
að tala = to speak

Icelandic uses að + verb as the infinitive in many constructions:

Ég vil *tala íslensku. – I want *to speak Icelandic.
Það er erfitt *að tala hratt. – It is hard *to speak fast.

In your sentence, “er að tala” → “is to speak”.

Why is it “íslensku” and not “íslenska” after “tala”?

Language names used as objects of verbs like “tala” (speak), læra (learn), kunna (know) usually appear in the accusative case without an article.

Declension of íslenska (feminine):

nominative singular: íslenska
accusative singular: íslensku
dative singular: íslensku
genitive singular: íslensku

In “tala íslensku”:

íslensku is the direct object of tala → accusative.

Compare:

Ég tala *íslensku* – I speak Icelandic.
Ég er að læra *íslensku* – I am learning Icelandic.
Íslenskan er falleg. – Icelandic (the language) is beautiful.
- Here Íslenskan (with the article) is in nominative; it’s the subject.

So “tala íslensku” is the normal, correct form.

Can I also say “tala á íslensku”? What’s the difference between “tala íslensku” and “tala á íslensku”?

Both exist, but there is a nuance:

tala íslensku
- Literally “speak Icelandic” as a language.
- Neutral, often used about your general ability.
- Markmið mitt er að tala íslensku vel. – My goal is to speak Icelandic well.
tala á íslensku
- Literally “speak in Icelandic” (with á = in/on).
- Used more for the language used in a specific act of speaking.
- Geturðu talað á íslensku við mig? – Can you speak to me in Icelandic?

In your sentence, “að tala íslensku á hverjum degi” already clearly expresses the idea “speak Icelandic every day”, so without á is the most natural wording.

Why is “íslensku” not capitalized like “Icelandic” in English?

In Icelandic, names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized, unless they start the sentence.

Examples:

íslenska, enska, franska, spænska – Icelandic, English, French, Spanish
Íslendingur, Englendingur – an Icelander, an English person (also not capitalized in the middle of a sentence)

So “íslensku” is correctly written with a lowercase i.

Why is it “á hverjum degi” and not “á hver dag” or “í hverjum degi”?

Two things are happening here:

Preposition “á” with time expressions
- á + dative is used for recurring times:
  - á mánudögum – on Mondays (regularly)
  - á kvöldin – in the evenings
  - á hverjum degi – every day (on each day, repeatedly)
Case of “hverjum degi”
- á here takes the dative:
  - hver → hverjum (dative masculine singular)
  - dagur → degi (dative masculine singular)

So:

á hverjum degi — correct: “(on) every day”, recurring
á hver dag — wrong case
í hverjum degi — would mean “in every day”, which doesn’t make sense here

You can say other correct variants without á, e.g.:

hvern dag (accusative) – every day
alla daga – every day (literally “all days”)

But with á, you need dative → á hverjum degi.

What are the forms “hver” → “hverjum” and “dagur” → “degi” showing?

They show dative singular forms:

hver (who/which/every) – masculine singular:
- nominative: hver
- accusative: hvern
- dative: hverjum
- genitive: hvers
dagur (day) – masculine singular:
- nominative: dagur
- accusative: dag
- dative: degi
- genitive: dags

Since the preposition á in this time-expression use takes dative, both words appear in the dative:

á hverjum degi – on every day

Could the word order be “Í ár er markmið mitt að tala íslensku á hverjum degi”? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is grammatically fine:

Í ár er markmið mitt að tala íslensku á hverjum degi.

The meaning is essentially the same, but the focus shifts a bit:

Mitt markmið í ár er …
→ The focus starts with my goal (and specifies it is for this year).
Í ár er markmið mitt …
→ The focus starts with this year (and then tells you what my goal for this year is).

Both are natural; the original version is probably the most typical.

Can I also say “Markmið mitt í ár er…” instead of “Mitt markmið í ár er…”?

Yes, both are correct:

Mitt markmið í ár er …
Markmið mitt í ár er …

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns can go before or after the noun. Very roughly:

Noun + poss. (markmið mitt) is often a bit more neutral/common.
Poss. + noun (mitt markmið) can give a slight emphasis on the possessor (“my goal”), or just sound a bit more stylistic.

In this specific sentence, both sound natural and are commonly used. The difference in nuance is very small.

Why is the verb “er” and not a future marker like “mun vera” or something similar?

The sentence is about what your goal is right now, not about an event in the future:

Mitt markmið í ár er…
→ My goal for this year is… (present state)

Icelandic does have future-like forms with “mun”, e.g.:

Ég mun tala íslensku á hverjum degi. – I will speak Icelandic every day.

But here we are not saying “my goal will be”; the goal already exists now. So present “er” is the natural choice.

Could I say “Mitt markmið í ár er að tala íslenska” instead of “íslensku”?

No, that would be ungrammatical in normal usage.

The verb tala takes the accusative object.
For the noun íslenska (feminine), the accusative singular is “íslensku”, not “íslenska”.

So:

Ég tala íslensku. – I speak Icelandic. (correct)
Ég tala íslenska. – incorrect in standard Icelandic in this meaning.

You might see “íslenska” as nominative, e.g.:

Íslenska er erfitt tungumál. – Icelandic is a difficult language.

But after tala, you need the accusative íslensku.