Questions & Answers about Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld.
Word by word:
- Við = we
- horfum = (we) watch / (we are) watching (present tense of horfa)
- á = at / on / to, but here it’s just the preposition required by horfa
- bíómynd = movie / film (literally cinema-picture)
- í = in, but in time expressions often translates as this / tonight / today depending on context
- kvöld = evening
So a very literal gloss could be:
We watch at movie in evening.
Idiomatic English: We’re watching a movie tonight.
The word order is the same basic pattern as English:
Subject – Verb – (Preposition) – Object – Time
→ Við (we) horfum (watch) á bíómynd (a movie) í kvöld (tonight).
In Icelandic, the present tense is often used for near future plans, just like English uses present continuous:
- English: We’re watching a movie tonight. (present form, future meaning)
- Icelandic: Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld. (present form, future meaning)
So:
- horfum = we watch / we are watching (present)
- The time expression í kvöld (“this evening / tonight”) makes it clear that this is a future plan, not a habit.
You can, in some contexts, also use a future construction like:
- Við munum horfa á bíómynd í kvöld. = We will watch a movie tonight.
But for simple, planned future events (especially in the near future), the plain present as in Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld is completely normal and very common.
Horfum is the 1st person plural present indicative of the verb horfa (“to watch / to look at”).
Present tense of horfa:
- ég horfi = I watch / I am watching
- þú horfir = you (sg.) watch
- hann / hún / það horfir = he / she / it watches
- við horfum = we watch
- þið horfið = you (pl.) watch
- þeir / þær / þau horfa = they watch
Past tense (simple past):
- ég horfði = I watched
- þú horfðir
- hann / hún / það horfði
- við horfðum
- þið horfðuð
- þeir / þær / þau horfðu
In dictionaries, you’ll usually see horfa (horfði, horft) as the principal parts (infinitive, 1st/3rd person past, and the past participle).
In Icelandic, some verbs require a preposition to link them to their object. Horfa is one of these:
- horfa á + accusative = to watch / to look at (something)
So:
- horfa alone = “to look”
- horfa á bíómynd = “to watch a movie”
You cannot say *horfa bíómynd; that sounds ungrammatical to a native speaker. The preposition á is part of the verb’s pattern, and the object (here bíómynd) must then be in the accusative case.
Compare:
- hlusta á tónlist = listen to music
- bíða eftir strætó = wait for the bus
These also need the preposition; it’s just how the verbs work in Icelandic.
Icelandic has no separate word for the indefinite article (a / an). So bíómynd on its own can mean:
- a movie (indefinite)
- sometimes just movie in a general sense
To say the movie, Icelandic uses a definite suffix attached to the noun:
- bíómyndin = the movie
Some useful forms (nominative singular):
- bíómynd = (a) movie
- bíómyndin = the movie
Plural:
- bíómyndir = movies
- bíómyndirnar = the movies
So in this sentence:
- Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld. = We’re watching a movie tonight.
- Við horfum á bíómyndina í kvöld. = We’re watching the movie tonight.
In Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld, the noun bíómynd is in the accusative singular.
Reason: the verb–preposition combination horfa á always takes an object in the accusative:
- horfa á [accusative]
Nominative vs accusative of bíómynd:
- Nominative sg.: bíómynd (as the subject)
- Accusative sg.: bíómynd (same form in this case)
So you don’t see a form change here, but grammatically it’s accusative because á (with horfa) governs the object.
Bíómynd is a feminine noun. It’s a compound:
- bíó = cinema
- mynd = picture / image / film
It follows a common feminine -mynd pattern. A simplified declension (singular only):
- Nominative: bíómynd – Bíómynd er góð. (The movie is good.)
- Accusative: bíómynd – Ég horfi á bíómynd. (I watch a movie.)
- Dative: bíómynd – Ég tala um bíómynd. (I talk about a movie.)
- Genitive: bíómyndar – Söguþráður bíómyndarinnar… (The plot of the movie…)
Plural nominative: bíómyndir (movies).
Plural accusative: bíómyndir.
Definite plural nominative: bíómyndirnar (the movies).
Literally:
- í = in
- kvöld = evening
So literally “in evening”, but as a fixed time expression, í kvöld means “this evening / tonight.”
In Icelandic, í + time word is very common for “this …”:
- í dag = today (this day)
- í nótt = tonight (this night)
- í vetur = this winter
We don’t use á kvöld for “tonight”. You might see á kvöldin (“in the evenings”) when talking about a habit:
- Ég les á kvöldin. = I read in the evenings (regularly).
But with a specific upcoming evening, you use í kvöld.
Yes, that is natural and actually very common. Both are correct:
- Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld.
- Í kvöld horfum við á bíómynd.
Icelandic has fairly flexible word order as long as the verb stays in second position in main clauses (the V2 rule):
- If við is first: Við (1) horfum (2) á bíómynd í kvöld.
- If í kvöld is first for emphasis on the time: Í kvöld (1) horfum (2) við á bíómynd.
Both sentences mean the same thing; the second just puts a bit more emphasis on “tonight.”
They’re related but not identical:
horfa á bíómynd
- Literally: watch a movie
- Focus on the activity of watching (could be at home or in the cinema).
sjá bíómynd
- Literally: see a movie
- Very close in meaning; often used like English “see a movie” (both for the act of seeing it, or just having seen it).
- Ég sá góða bíómynd í gær. = I saw a good movie yesterday.
fara í bíó
- Literally: go to the cinema
- Focus is on going to the movie theater, not necessarily the specific film.
- Við förum í bíó í kvöld. = We’re going to the movies tonight.
So:
- Við horfum á bíómynd í kvöld. = We’re watching a movie tonight (maybe at home).
- Við förum í bíó í kvöld. = We’re going to the cinema tonight.
Approximate pronunciation (IPA-like, but simplified):
- Við ≈ [vɪð] – like vith (the ð is a soft th in this)
- horfum ≈ [hɔr.vʏm] – hor as in English “whore” (but shorter), fum like “fym” with rounded lips
- á ≈ [au] – like ow in “cow”
- bíómynd ≈ [ˈpiː.jouˌmɪnt]
- bí = bee
- ó in bíó is like English “owe” but very short
- mynd ≈ mint but with d softened / almost t-like
- í ≈ [iː] – like ee in see
- kvöld ≈ [kvœlt]
- kv like kv in Kvetch (k + v)
- ö ≈ French eu in bleu, or like u in English “burn” (for many learners)
- final ld pronounced almost like lt
Said smoothly, it’s roughly:
[vɪð ˈhɔr.vʏm au ˈpiː.jouˌmɪnt iː kvœlt]
You’ll also hear some assimilation and shortening in natural speech, but that’s a good target pronunciation.