Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Við kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber í búðinni á horninu. - We buy both strawberries and blueberries at the shop on the corner.

Function: pronoun vs. preposition
Position:
- As a pronoun, Við will usually be at the start of the clause and followed by a finite verb:
  - Við kaupum… – We buy…
- As a preposition, við will be directly followed by a noun phrase:
  - við hornið – by the corner

In your sentence, it’s clearly the subject pronoun: Við kaupum… = We buy…

Why does the verb appear as kaupum and not just kaupa?

Kaupum is the present tense, 1st person plural form of the verb kaupa (to buy).

Icelandic verbs change their endings according to person and number. For the verb kaupa, the present tense forms are:

ég kaupi – I buy
þú kaupir – you (sg.) buy
hann/hún/það kaupir – he/she/it buys
við kaupum – we buy
þið kaupið – you (pl.) buy
þeir/þær/þau kaupa – they buy

Since the subject is við (we), the verb must agree and take the -um ending:
Við kaupum… = We buy…

What exactly does bæði … og … mean, and why is it used instead of just og?

The pair bæði … og … means “both … and …”.

bæði = both
og = and

So:

bæði jarðarber og bláber = both strawberries and blueberries

You could say just:

Við kaupum jarðarber og bláber. – We buy strawberries and blueberries.

That is grammatically correct, but bæði … og … emphasizes that you are including both items (not only one, not alternately).

Position:

bæði stands before the first item.
og stands before the second item.

You cannot put bæði before both nouns:

❌ bæði jarðarber bæði og bláber – incorrect
✅ bæði jarðarber og bláber – correct

Are jarðarber and bláber plural here? Why don’t they change form?

Yes, they are logically plural here (strawberries and blueberries), but their form doesn’t change because they are neuter nouns whose singular and plural look the same.

For example:

jarðarber – a strawberry / strawberries
bláber – a blueberry / blueberries

In many such neuter nouns:

nominative singular = nominative plural,
accusative singular = accusative plural, etc.

So context tells you if it is one or many. Here, after kaupum (“we buy”), it is natural to understand many strawberries and blueberries.

Grammatically, in this sentence they are in the accusative plural (direct objects of kaupum), but the form is identical to nominative singular/plural.

Why are jarðarber and bláber in the accusative case here?

Icelandic marks grammatical roles with cases. The direct object of a verb that takes an object is usually in the accusative case.

Verb: kaupa – to buy
Direct objects: jarðarber, bláber – what is being bought

So the structure is:

Við (nominative, subject)
kaupum (verb)
bæði jarðarber og bláber (accusative, direct objects)

Because these are neuter nouns with identical forms across cases in the plural, you don’t see the accusative, but it is there in function.

Why is it í búðinni and not something like í búðin or í búð?

Í búðinni literally means “in the shop”.

Breaking it down:

í = in
búð = shop, store (feminine noun)
-in / -inni = definite ending = the

Icelandic puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of in front:

búð – a shop
búðin – the shop (nominative)
í búð – in a shop
í búðinni – in the shop (dative)

Two things are happening in búðinni:

Definiteness: you mean a specific shop → add the definite ending.
Case: the preposition í with a meaning of location (“in, inside”) takes the dative case.

Feminine noun búð (sg. dative definite) becomes búðinni:

stem búð-
- dative definite ending -inni

So í búðinni is “in the shop”, both definite and dative.

Why does í take the dative case here? Doesn’t í sometimes take the accusative?

Yes. In Icelandic, í can take either accusative or dative, depending on meaning:

Accusative: motion into something (change of location)
- Ég fer í búðina. – I go into the shop. (movement)
Dative: being in something (static location)
- Ég er í búðinni. – I am in the shop. (no movement)

In your sentence, you’re describing where the buying takes place, not movement towards it:

Við kaupum … í búðinni … – We buy … in the shop …

So í takes the dative, giving búðinni.

What does á horninu mean exactly, and why is á used with the dative here?

Á horninu literally means “at/on the corner.”

á = on, at
horn = corner
-inu = definite ending for neuter dative singular → the corner

As with í, the preposition á also switches between accusative and dative:

Accusative: motion onto / to a surface or place
- Hann gengur á hornið. – He walks to the corner.
Dative: location on or at something
- Hann stendur á horninu. – He stands at the corner.

In í búðinni á horninu, the meaning is “in the shop that is on the corner”, i.e. a static location. So á takes the dative case.

Horn is a neuter noun:

horn – (nom./acc. sg.) corner
horninu – (dat. sg. definite) the corner

Hence: á horninu = at/on the corner.

How should I understand the phrase í búðinni á horninu as a whole?

Í búðinni á horninu means “in the shop on the corner” or “in the corner shop” (in practical meaning).

Structure:

í búðinni – in the shop
á horninu – on/at the corner

Placed one after another, á horninu acts like extra information specifying which shop:

í [búðinni á horninu]
= in [the shop that is on the corner]

Natural English: “in the shop on the corner.”

Can Icelandic drop the subject pronoun like Spanish or Italian? Could you just say Kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber…?

No. Icelandic is not a “pro-drop” language the way Spanish or Italian are.

You normally must include the subject pronoun:

✅ Við kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber í búðinni á horninu.
❌ Kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber í búðinni á horninu.

Omitting við sounds incomplete or like a telegraphic style (e.g. a headline). In normal speech and writing, you include Við.

Why is the English translation “We buy…” and not “We are buying…”? How does Icelandic express the present?

Standard Icelandic uses a single present tense form (here kaupum) for several English meanings:

Habitual / repeated:
- Við kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber í búðinni á horninu.
- We buy both strawberries and blueberries at the shop on the corner.
Right now / progressive context (if clear from context):
- Hvað eruð þið að gera? – Við kaupum jarðarber.
- What are you doing? – We’re buying strawberries.

Icelandic does not have a distinct “am/are … -ing” tense like English. Context tells you whether it’s habitual or happening now.

If you really want to emphasize ongoing action, you can use “vera að” + infinitive:

Við erum að kaupa jarðarber. – We are (in the process of) buying strawberries.

But the simple present kaupum is very common and flexible.

How do you pronounce Við kaupum bæði jarðarber og bláber í búðinni á horninu? I’m especially unsure about ð, ú, and the stress.

A rough pronunciation guide (not IPA, just approximate):

Við ≈ “vith” (soft th as in this, not thin)
kaupum ≈ “KOY-pum” (like English boy but with k; stress on kau-)
bæði ≈ “BYE-thi” (ð again like this)
jarðarber ≈ “YAR-thar-ber” (first syllable stressed, ð = soft th)
og ≈ short “og” (like oak but with a short o, often slightly reduced in fast speech)
bláber ≈ “BLOW-ber” (like blau in German, stress on blá-)
í ≈ “ee” as in see
búðinni ≈ “BOO-thin-ni” (ú like oo in food; ð = soft th)
á ≈ “ow” as in cow
horninu ≈ “HOR-ni-nu” (roughly; r is rolled or tapped)

Stress pattern:

In Icelandic, stress is almost always on the first syllable of each word:
- Víð
- KÁU-pum
- BÆI-ði
- JAR-ðar-ber
- BLÁ-ber
- BÚÐ-inni
- HORN-inu

Is the sentence neutral/formal/informal? Could I use it in everyday speech?

The sentence is neutral, standard Icelandic. You can safely use it:

in everyday conversation,
in writing,
in relatively formal or informal contexts.

There’s nothing slangy or overly formal about it. It sounds natural and “textbook normal.”