Breakdown of Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
Questions & Answers about Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
Icelandic usually uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when the future event is planned or scheduled.
- Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
Literally: We meet at the museum tomorrow.
Natural English: We’ll meet at the museum tomorrow.
This is completely normal in Icelandic. You can make a more explicit future with munu:
- Við munum hittast við safnið á morgun. – We will meet at / by the museum tomorrow.
Both are correct; the simple present is very common for future time.
They come from different verb types:
hittum – 1st person plural of hitta “to meet (someone)”
- Við hittum hana. – We meet her.
hittumst – 1st person plural of hittast, the -st / middle-voice form
- Við hittumst. – We meet (each other).
So:
- hittum = we meet someone else (direct object stated).
- hittumst = we meet one another; the “each other” meaning is built in, no extra word needed.
The -st ending marks a so‑called middle voice in Icelandic. It can have several functions, but the key ones to know here are:
Reciprocal meaning (“each other”):
- Við hittumst. – We meet each other.
Reflexive meaning (“oneself”):
- Ég sef – I sleep.
- Ég sef ekki vel. – I don’t sleep well.
(Better reflexive examples with other verbs, e.g. klæða sig → klæðast “get dressed”.)
Passive-like meaning with some verbs:
- Bókin selst vel. – The book sells well. (literally “sells itself well”)
In this sentence, hittumst is reciprocal: it already includes the idea of “each other”.
Because Icelandic normally uses the -st form for this meaning, not a separate reflexive pronoun:
- Við hittumst. – We meet each other.
(standard, natural)
If you said Við hittum okkur, it would sound more like “We meet ourselves,” and is not how Icelandic expresses “meet each other.” The natural way is to use hittast / hittumst.
The two við are different words:
- Við (at the start) is the pronoun: we.
- við (before safnið) is a preposition: at / by / near / against.
So:
- Við (we) hittumst við (by/at) safnið (the museum).
They look the same in writing and are pronounced the same, but their grammar roles and meanings are different.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different meanings:
við safnið = by / next to / at the side of the museum
Often suggests meeting outside or near the building.á safninu = literally “on/at the museum”, usually understood as at the museum (inside or at the location in general).
In this sentence, við safnið sounds like “we’ll meet by the museum,” probably outside, as a landmark or meeting point.
Because safnið is the definite form: “the museum.”
- safn – a museum (indefinite, nominative/accusative singular)
- safnið – the museum (definite, nominative/accusative singular)
The definite ending for a neuter noun like safn in the nominative and accusative singular is -ið.
So við safnið means “by the museum”, not just “by a museum.”
Safnið is in the accusative case.
Reason: the preposition við (at / by / near / against) governs the accusative case in Icelandic.
So:
- Base noun: safn (neuter, nominative/accusative)
- Definite accusative: safnið
That’s why we get við safnið, not something like við safninu.
Literally, á morgun is “on (the) morning”, but as a fixed expression it means “tomorrow.”
- á – a preposition often translated as on / in / at.
- morgun – “morning” (here in the accusative, but without article).
In time expressions, á + time word is common:
- á morgun – tomorrow
- á mánudag – on Monday
So in practice, you should learn á morgun as the standard way to say “tomorrow.”
They are not interchangeable:
á morgun = tomorrow (future)
- Við hittumst á morgun. – We’ll meet tomorrow.
í morgun = this morning / earlier this morning (today, in the past of the same day)
- Við hittumst í morgun. – We met this morning.
Bare morgun alone is not usually used by itself to mean tomorrow; you almost always say á morgun for that meaning. You may see morgun as part of longer expressions, e.g. í fyrramálið for “tomorrow morning,” etc.
Yes. Icelandic word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbials like time and place.
All of these are grammatical (with slightly different emphasis):
- Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
- Á morgun hittumst við við safnið.
- Við hittumst á morgun við safnið.
The most neutral, everyday version is probably the original:
Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
Yes, it’s correct:
- Við munum hittast við safnið á morgun. – We will meet at / by the museum tomorrow.
Differences:
Við hittumst við safnið á morgun.
Uses present tense with future time → very normal, often slightly more colloquial / neutral.Við munum hittast við safnið á morgun.
Uses munu + infinitive → can sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal/emphatic: “we will (indeed) meet.”
In everyday speech, the short present‑tense version is extremely common.
Yes, in normal pronunciation they are the same sound:
- Við (we) – pronoun
- við (by/at) – preposition
Both are usually pronounced roughly like /vɪð/ (with Icelandic vowels and the voiced dental fricative at the end).
Listeners know which is which from word order and grammar, not from different pronunciation.