Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Hún borðar ein í kvöld.

Hún is feminine, singular, nominative.
The word einn/ein/eitt inflects like an adjective and must agree with the subject when it means “alone”:
- masculine nominative singular: einn
- feminine nominative singular: ein
- neuter nominative singular: eitt

So with hún, you must say ein.

Eina is the accusative feminine form and would be used for a direct object, e.g.:

Hún borðar eina köku. – She eats one cake.

In Hún borðar ein í kvöld, ein is not an object; it’s a predicate word meaning alone that describes hún, so it stays in the nominative feminine: ein.

Is ein here the number “one” or does it mean “alone”? How can I tell?

In this sentence ein means “alone”, not “one”.

You can tell from the structure:

There is no noun after ein:
- She eats one… → you expect one what?
- In Icelandic: Hún borðar eina köku / eina súpu, etc.
Instead, ein stands by itself and refers back to the subject:
- Hún borðar ein í kvöld. → She eats (by herself) tonight.

If ein(n) directly modifies a noun, it’s usually the numeral one:

Hún borðar eina súpu. – She eats one soup. If it stands alone after the verb and refers to the subject, it usually means alone:
Hún borðar ein. – She eats alone.

Why is the verb borðar in the present tense if the meaning is future (“tonight”)?

Icelandic often uses the present tense for the near future when there is a time expression:

Hún borðar ein í kvöld.
Literally: She eats alone this evening
Natural English: She will eat / is eating alone tonight.

The time phrase í kvöld (this evening, tonight) makes it clear that the action is later today, so present tense in Icelandic is understood as a scheduled / planned near-future event.

You can also use a future auxiliary:

Hún mun borða ein í kvöld. – She will eat alone tonight.

That version can sound a bit more like prediction or emphasis on the future, whereas the plain present is very normal and neutral for planned events.

Could I say Hún mun borða ein í kvöld instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, Hún mun borða ein í kvöld is grammatically correct.

Subtle difference:

Hún borðar ein í kvöld.
- Very common.
- Sounds like a plan / arrangement: that’s what is happening tonight.
Hún mun borða ein í kvöld.
- Also correct.
- Slightly more explicitly “future”, often with a feeling of prediction, decision, or contrast (e.g. Actually, she will eat alone tonight).

In everyday speech about tonight’s plans, present + time expression (as in the original sentence) is usually preferred.

Where can I put ein and í kvöld in the sentence? Is the word order fixed?

The original word order is the most neutral:

Hún borðar ein í kvöld. – She eats alone tonight.

But you can move the adverbials for emphasis:

Emphasizing tonight:
- Í kvöld borðar hún ein.
  Focuses on tonight (perhaps in contrast to other days).
Emphasizing who eats alone:
- Hún borðar ein í kvöld. (neutral, subject first, already good)
Putting ein later is possible but sounds more marked:
- Hún borðar í kvöld ein. – grammatically possible, but less neutral and can sound a bit awkward or poetic.

General rule: subject–verb first, then things like ein (manner), then í kvöld (time) is the normal, default order. So the original sentence is the most natural everyday word order.

What exactly does í kvöld mean, and how is it different from other time expressions?

Í kvöld literally means “in the evening”, but as a fixed expression it means:

“this evening” / “tonight” (the evening of today).

Compare with other common time phrases:

í dag – today
í kvöld – this evening / tonight
í nótt – tonight (during the night), tonight at night
á morgun – tomorrow
í gærkvöldi – yesterday evening, last night (evening)

Don’t confuse with forms like:

í kvöldin – in the evenings (habitually)
e.g. Hún borðar ein í kvöldin. – She eats alone in the evenings (as a habit).

So í kvöld refers to one specific evening: this evening, not to evenings in general.

Why isn’t there any word for “the” or “a” in í kvöld? Shouldn’t it be “in the evening”?

Icelandic handles articles differently from English:

There is no separate indefinite article:
- borðar – eats (no “a” needed)
- kvöld – can mean “an evening”, “the evening”, or just “evening” depending on context.
The definite article is usually a suffix on the noun, not a separate word:
- kvöldið – the evening
- í kvöldinu – in the evening (very literal, specific, and unusual in the sense we want here)

But í kvöld is a fixed time expression meaning “this evening / tonight”, so you don’t add the article there. Treat í kvöld as one chunk: tonight.

What’s the difference between borða and other Icelandic words for “to eat”, like eta?

borða is the normal, neutral verb for “to eat” in modern Icelandic.
- Hún borðar ein í kvöld. – completely normal.
eta is another verb, but:
- Often feels harsher or more animal-like, similar to “to devour / to gobble (like an animal)”.
- It can be used jokingly or negatively about how someone eats.
- You wouldn’t usually use eta for a neutral statement about someone’s dinner plans.

So when you just mean “eat (a meal)”, borða is the safe, everyday choice.

Can Icelandic drop the subject pronoun here, like Spanish does? Could I just say Borðar ein í kvöld?

No. Modern Icelandic is not a “pro‑drop” language like Spanish or Italian.

You normally must include the subject pronoun:
- Hún borðar ein í kvöld. – correct.
- Borðar ein í kvöld. – would sound like a question missing its subject (Does [someone] eat alone tonight?), or simply incorrect as a statement.

Exceptions where the subject is dropped are limited (e.g. imperatives: Borðaðu! – Eat!), but for normal statements about someone, you keep the pronoun: Hún, Hann, Þau, etc.

How would the sentence change if the subject were male, or if there were more than one person?

The word einn/ein/eitt must agree with the subject in gender and number when it means alone.

Singular:

Hann borðar einn í kvöld. – He eats alone tonight.
- hann → masculine → einn
Hún borðar ein í kvöld. – She eats alone tonight.
- hún → feminine → ein

Neuter singular is rarer with people, but with a neuter noun it would be:

Barnið borðar eitt í kvöld. – The child eats alone tonight.
- barnið (the child) → neuter → eitt

Plural:

Masculine plural (all male):
- Þeir borða einir í kvöld. – They (m.) eat alone tonight (each one separately).
Feminine plural (all female):
- Þær borða einar í kvöld.
Neuter or mixed group:
- Þau borða ein í kvöld.

So both the form of “alone” and the verb ending change with the subject.

How is Hún borðar ein í kvöld pronounced, roughly?

Very roughly in “English‑style” sounds (this is approximate):

Hún – like [hoon] (long u as in “food”)
borðar – [BOR-thar]
- rð merges, the ð is a soft “th” as in this; in fluent speech the whole thing can sound like [BOR-ar].
ein – like English “ane” or “ane” in lane, but a bit tenser, roughly [aine].
í – like a long English “ee”, [ee].
kvöld – roughly [kvœlt]:
- k as in key,
- v as in very,
- ö is like the vowel in British bird or French peur,
- final ld often pronounced with a t-like sound: [lt].

So very roughly: [hoon BOR-thar aine ee kvœlt], with stress always on the first syllable of each word.