Kvöldgangan í dag verður styttri en í gær.

yesterday

Breakdown of Kvöldgangan í dag verður styttri en í gær.

• verða: to become
• en: than
• í dag: today

Questions & Answers about Kvöldgangan í dag verður styttri en í gær.

What does Kvöldgangan mean exactly, and why does it end in -n?

Kvöldgangan is the evening walk.
The base word is kvöldganga (evening walk), a feminine noun. When you add the definite article (the) in Icelandic, you usually attach it to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front.

So:

• kvöldganga = evening walk
• kvöldgangan = the evening walk

Here, Kvöldgangan is the subject of the sentence, in the nominative case, definite singular feminine.

What is kvöldganga made from? Why is it one word?

Kvöldganga is a compound noun:

• kvöld = evening
• ganga = walk, walking

Icelandic very often forms new nouns by putting two nouns together. In English you write evening walk as two words; in Icelandic it becomes one word: kvöldganga. When you make it definite (the evening walk), it becomes kvöldgangan.

Why do we say í dag for “today”? It looks like “in day”.