Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag.

She is going to a small conference at the university today.

Breakdown of Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag.

• lítill: small
• hún: she
• fara: to go
• í: at
• á: to
• í dag: today
• háskólinn: the university
• ráðstefnan: the conference

Questions & Answers about Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag.

Why is it Hún fer and not Hún fara or something else? What tense is fer here?

The verb is að fara (to go, to leave). It is irregular in the present tense:

• ég fer – I go
• þú ferð – you (sg.) go
• hann / hún / það fer – he / she / it goes
• við förum – we go
• þið farið – you (pl.) go
• þeir / þær / þau fara – they go

So fer is the 3rd person singular present tense form, matching Hún (she).

In this sentence, the Icelandic present tense fer is used with the time expression í dag (today), and that naturally gives a near‑future meaning in English: she is going / she will go today. Icelandic does not need a separate future tense here; the simple present with a time word is enough.

Why is the preposition á used before litla ráðstefnu? Could you use í or til instead?

In Icelandic, different prepositions are preferred for different kinds of destinations:

• á is typically used for events or activities that you attend:

  • á ráðstefnu – to a conference
  • á fund – to a meeting
  • á tónleika – to a concert
  • á námskeið – to a course

• í is more often used for going into a place / inside something:

  • í skólann – into (the) school
  • í bíó – to the cinema (literally: into cinema)
  • í búðina – into the shop

• til is used for going to a person or to towns/countries/places seen as points:

  • til Jóns – to Jón
  • til Reykjavíkur – to Reykjavík
  • til læknis – to the doctor

Because a conference is an event you attend, the natural preposition is á, not í or til. So Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu is the idiomatic choice.

Why is it á litla ráðstefnu and not á litli ráðstefnu or á lítil ráðstefna?

This is about adjective agreement.

• The base form of the adjective is lítill (small, little).
• The noun ráðstefna (conference) is feminine.
• In this sentence, ráðstefnu is accusative singular (because of á with motion).
• For a feminine, singular, accusative, indefinite noun, lítill takes the form litla.

So the pattern is:

• noun: ráðstefna (fem., nominative) → ráðstefnu (fem., accusative)
• adjective: lítill → litla (fem., accusative, strong/indefinite)

Therefore á litla ráðstefnu is the correct combination.
Forms like á litli ráðstefnu or á lítil ráðstefna break the gender/case agreement rules.

Why does ráðstefna appear as ráðstefnu in this sentence?

Ráðstefna is a regular feminine noun ending in -a. Its singular forms (indefinite) look like this:

• nominative: ráðstefna – conference (subject)
• accusative: ráðstefnu
• dative: ráðstefnu
• genitive: ráðstefnu

The preposition á, when it expresses movement towards something (to a conference, to a meeting, etc.), normally takes the accusative.

So in á litla ráðstefnu:

• á requires the accusative,
• the accusative form of ráðstefna is ráðstefnu,

hence the change from ráðstefna to ráðstefnu.

Why isn’t there a word for a before litla ráðstefnu? How do you say a and the here?

Icelandic has no separate word for the indefinite article (a / an in English).

• A bare noun phrase like litla ráðstefnu is understood as a small conference (indefinite).
• To express definiteness (the conference, the small conference), Icelandic usually uses a suffix on the noun, and the adjective then takes weak endings.

In the accusative singular feminine:

• litla ráðstefnu → a small conference
• litlu ráðstefnuna → the small conference (accusative; weak adjective litlu
  • definite noun ráðstefnuna)

So in your sentence, á litla ráðstefnu means to a small conference. If you wanted to the small conference, you would say á litlu ráðstefnuna.

What exactly does háskólanum mean, and how is it different from háskóli or háskólann?

The base noun is háskóli – university (masculine). Its singular forms (indefinite) are:

• nominative: háskóli
• accusative: háskóla / háskólann (with or without definiteness)
• dative: háskóla
• genitive: háskóla

With the definite article added as a suffix, the dative singular becomes:

• háskólanum – the university (dative singular)

So:

• háskóli – a university (subject form)
• háskólann – the university (accusative, e.g. going into the university)
• háskólanum – the university (dative, here: at/in the university)

In í háskólanum, we have:

• í
  • dative → í háskólanum = in/at the university (as a location).

Why does í take háskólanum (dative) in í háskólanum, but dag (accusative) in í dag? And how can í mean different things?

The preposition í is versatile and can take either accusative or dative, depending on meaning:

1. Location / state (where?) → dative

   • í háskólanum – in/at the university
     Here, it describes where the conference is, so háskólanum is dative singular definite.

2. Direction / movement (into where?) → accusative

   • í háskólann – into the university

3. Time expressions → usually accusative

   • í dag – today (literally: in the day)
   • dagur (day) → accusative singular dag

So:

• í háskólanum: í
  • dative = in/at the university (location)
• í dag: í
  • accusative = today (time expression)

Does í háskólanum belong with ráðstefnu or with fer? Is it a conference at the university or she goes in the university?

The most natural reading is that í háskólanum modifies ráðstefnu:

• á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum ≈ to a small conference at the university

Two reasons:

1. Word order and proximity: the prepositional phrase í háskólanum directly follows ráðstefnu, so listeners group them together as one unit: a small conference (which is) at the university.

2. Meaning: if you wanted to say she goes into the university, you would usually use í háskólann (accusative, motion into a building), not í háskólanum (dative, location).

You could move the phrase for emphasis or to clarify grouping:

• Hún fer í dag í háskólann á litla ráðstefnu. – She goes into the university today, to a small conference.
• Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu, í háskólanum, í dag. – more clearly: the conference at the university.

But in the given sentence as it stands, the default interpretation is a conference that takes place at the university.

Why is í dag at the end? Could it go somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes, í dag is movable. Icelandic word order is relatively flexible for adverbials (time, place, manner). The basic clause is:

• Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag.

You can move í dag for emphasis or style:

• Hún fer í dag á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum.
• Í dag fer hún á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum.

All are grammatical. Differences are mainly about emphasis:

• Final position (…í dag) is very common and neutral.
• Í dag fer hún… puts extra emphasis on today.

Could you leave out Hún like in some other languages and just say Fer á litla ráðstefnu…?

No. Icelandic is not a “pro‑drop” language like Spanish or Italian. You normally must include the subject pronoun:

• Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag. – correct
• Fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag. – sounds incomplete in standard Icelandic (unless it is an imperative or some special elliptical context)

Also:

• Hún is specifically the feminine third‑person singular pronoun (she).
  If you had a man, you would say Hann fer á litla ráðstefnu…

What is the difference between Hún fer and Hún er að fara in this context? Could you use Hún er að fara á litla ráðstefnu… instead?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

• Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag.
  – Simple present; with í dag, it usually means she is going (at some point today) or she will go today. It is neutral and commonly used for planned or scheduled future actions.

• Hún er að fara á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum.
  – Literally she is going / is in the process of going. This focuses more on the ongoing action right now, similar to English she is on her way to a small conference….
  If you add í dag, it can sound like she is currently in the process of leaving today, which is a bit redundant; usually Hún er að fara núna (now) would fit better.

So in your original sentence with í dag, Hún fer… is the most natural form.

How do you pronounce the special letters ú, á, and ð in Hún fer á litla ráðstefnu í háskólanum í dag?

Very roughly, compared to English:

• ú in Hún and ráðstefnu
  – A long u sound, similar to the vowel in English “food”, but often a bit more tense and pure.
  – Hún ≈ “hoon”.

• á in á and ráðstefnu
  – A long ow sound, like English “cow” or “now”, but as a single, clean vowel.
  – á ≈ “ow”, ráð ≈ “rowth” (with a soft consonant at the end).

• ð in ráðstefnu
  – Usually like the English th in “this” (voiced ð sound).
  – In ráð, it is between the vowel and the final consonant cluster; learners often approximate ráð as something like “rowth” with a soft th sound inside.

These are only approximate; the exact pronunciation has Icelandic‑specific qualities, but this gives you a workable starting point.