Tíminn er stuttur í dag.

Time is short today.

Breakdown of Tíminn er stuttur í dag.

• vera: to be
• stuttur: short
• í dag: today
• tíminn: the class

Questions & Answers about Tíminn er stuttur í dag.

Why is it tíminn and not just tími?

Tími is the basic (indefinite) noun meaning time. Icelandic usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• tími = time
• tíminn = the time

In this sentence, you are talking about the available time today (a specific, understood amount of time), so Icelandic naturally uses the definite form tíminn.

What are the grammatical features of tíminn (gender, number, case)?

tíminn is:

• gender: masculine
• number: singular
• case: nominative (because it’s the subject of the sentence)

You can think of it as “the time” in the subject position: Tíminn (subject) er stuttur.

How is tími declined, and how do we get the form tíminn?

The noun tími (m.) has the following main forms:

• nominative sg.: tími
• accusative sg.: tíma
• dative sg.: tíma
• genitive sg.: tíma

Definite nominative singular adds -inn (with some sound adjustment):

• tími
  • -inn → tíminn

So tíminn = the time in nominative singular.

Why is the adjective stuttur, not stutt or stutti?

Icelandic adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, tíminn is masculine, singular, nominative, so the adjective must also be masculine singular nominative.

The adjective stuttur (short) has:

• strong masculine nominative singular: stuttur
• weak masculine nominative singular: stutti

In a sentence like Tíminn er stuttur, the adjective is predicative (after the verb er, describing the subject), and predicative adjectives normally use the strong declension → stuttur.

If the adjective directly modified a definite noun before it, you’d get the weak form:

• stutti tíminn = the short time (attributive, with definiteness)

So Tíminn er stuttur is the correct predicative form.

Why is the verb er used here, and what form is it?

er is the 3rd person singular present tense of vera (to be).

The main present forms of vera are:

• ég er – I am
• þú ert – you are (sg.)
• hann / hún / það er – he / she / it is
• við erum – we are
• þið eruð – you are (pl.)
• þeir / þær / þau eru – they are

Since tíminn is 3rd person singular, you use er:
Tíminn er stuttur í dag. – The time is short today.

Why does stuttur come after er instead of before tíminn, like in English “short time”?

The structure here mirrors English Time is short, not the short time.

• Tíminn er stuttur = The time is short.
  
  • tíminn = subject
  • er = verb
  • stuttur = predicative adjective (a complement describing the subject)

If you put the adjective before the noun in Icelandic, you usually get an attributive phrase:

• stuttur tími = a short time (indefinite)
• stutti tíminn = the short time (definite)

So the word order and form in Tíminn er stuttur match the English pattern Time is short.

What exactly does í dag mean, and what’s its structure?

í dag means today as a time expression.

• í = in (a preposition)
• dag = the accusative singular form of dagur (day)

So literally: í dag ≈ in (this) day, but as an idiom it functions simply as today. It’s a very fixed, everyday expression.

Why is it dag and not dagur in í dag?

dagur (day) is declined like this in the singular:

• nominative: dagur
• accusative: dag
• dative: degi
• genitive: dags

The preposition í can govern either dative or accusative, but with time expressions like í dag, it takes the accusative, so we use dag.

Hence: í dag (today), with dag in the accusative case.

Does í still literally mean “in” in í dag, like in English?

Historically, yes: í is the normal preposition for in / into / inside.

But in í dag, í gær (yesterday), and related time phrases, the combination has become idiomatic. Learners usually just memorize í dag = today, without insisting on a literal in the day meaning every time.

So it’s the same preposition í, but used in a set expression.

Can I change the word order and say Í dag er tíminn stuttur?

Yes, that is also correct Icelandic.

• Tíminn er stuttur í dag.
• Í dag er tíminn stuttur.

Both mean Time is short today.

Putting Í dag first sounds a bit more like you are emphasizing today as the topic: As for today, the time is short. The difference is more about focus and style than grammar.

Could I say just Tíminn er stuttur without í dag?

Yes, grammatically that’s fine:

• Tíminn er stuttur. = Time is short.

Without í dag, it sounds more general, like a broader statement about life, schedule pressure in general, etc., rather than specifically today. The original sentence narrows it to today.

Is stuttur always the word for “short,” or are there other options?

stuttur is a very common word for “short” in both spatial and temporal senses:

• stuttur maður – a short man
• stuttur tími – a short time

There is also stutt (the neuter and feminine strong nominative of the same adjective) and another adjective skammur, which also means “short” (often of duration):

• skammur tími – a short time (relatively common, sometimes a bit more literary/formal)

In Tíminn er stuttur í dag, stuttur is chosen because it agrees with tíminn (masc. nom. sg.) and expresses that today there isn’t much time. Both stuttur and skammur can work with tími, with slightly different style/feel depending on context.

How is tíminn pronounced, and does the double nn make a difference?

Approximate pronunciation (in a rough English-friendly way):

• tíminn ≈ TEE-minn
  
  • tí = [tʰiː] (long í, like “ee” in see but longer and tenser)
  • mi ≈ [mɪ]
  • nn = a long / double n sound [nː]

The double nn means the n is geminated (held slightly longer). It’s not a completely new sound, just a longer n compared with a single n. The main stress is on the first syllable: TÍ-minn.