Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld.

I am going to fry fish tonight.

Breakdown of Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld.

• ég: I
• ætla: to plan
• fiskurinn: the fish
• í kvöld: tonight
• steikja: to fry

Questions & Answers about Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld.

What does ætla mean in this sentence? Is it the same as will in English?

Ætla literally means to intend / to plan.

In this sentence, Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld is closer to:

• I intend to fry fish tonight
• I’m going to fry fish tonight (I’ve decided / I plan to)

Icelandic doesn’t have a single future tense like English will.
Instead, it usually uses:

• present tense
  • context
• or verbs like ætla (intend), munu (will/shall) to express future.

So ég ætla emphasizes your intention or plan, not just a neutral prediction about the future.

Why is there an að before steikja? What does að do here?

Here að is the infinitive marker, like to in English to fry.

• steikja = to fry (infinitive form)
• að steikja = to fry

After verbs like ætla, reyna (try), vilja (want), you normally put að before another verb in the infinitive:

• Ég ætla að borða. – I intend to eat.
• Hann vill að sofa. – He wants to sleep. (more idiomatic: Hann vill sofa; some verbs can drop að)

In Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld, you cannot drop the að:
✗ Ég ætla steikja fisk í kvöld is wrong.

Why is it fisk and not fiskur?

Fiskur is the nominative singular form (dictionary form).
In this sentence, fisk is the accusative singular form.

• fiskur (nom.) – used for the subject
• fisk (acc.) – used for the direct object

Here, fisk is what you are frying, so it is a direct object and takes the accusative:

• Fiskur syndir. – A fish swims. (subject → nominative)
• Ég borða fisk. – I eat fish. (object → accusative)
• Ég ætla að steikja fisk. – I intend to fry fish. (object → accusative)

Masculine nouns often drop the -ur ending in the accusative singular.

How do I say the fish instead of just fish in this sentence?

Icelandic usually shows definiteness with a suffix, not a separate word:

• fiskur = a fish / fish (indefinite, nominative)
• fiskurinn = the fish (definite, nominative)
• fisk = fish (indefinite, accusative)
• fiskinn = the fish (definite, accusative)

So:

• Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld. – I’m going to fry fish tonight.
• Ég ætla að steikja fiskinn í kvöld. – I’m going to fry the fish tonight (a particular fish you both know about).

What exactly does steikja mean? Is it only to fry, or also to roast / grill?

Steikja generally means to fry or to roast, i.e. to cook with dry heat in fat or in the oven. Usage:

• að steikja fisk – to fry fish (in a pan)
• að steikja kjöt – to roast/fry meat
• steik – a steak / roast

If you just want a general verb for to cook, you can use elda:

• Ég ætla að elda fisk í kvöld. – I’m going to cook fish tonight.
  (doesn’t say how exactly; boiling, baking, frying, etc.)

Steikja is a bit more specific about the cooking method than elda.

Why is it í kvöld and not something like í kvöldi or just kvöld?

Í kvöld is a fixed time expression meaning tonight.

• í = in / on / at
• kvöld = evening (neuter noun)

Literally it is in the evening, but in practice í kvöld = this evening / tonight.

You don’t say í kvöldi here. Time expressions like:

• í dag – today
• í gær – yesterday
• í fyrramálið – tomorrow morning

work similarly. Í kvöld is the idiomatic way to say tonight.

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Í kvöld ætla ég að steikja fisk?

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible, especially for adverbials like time expressions.

All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

• Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld. – neutral, most common.
• Í kvöld ætla ég að steikja fisk. – emphasizes tonight (as opposed to another time).
• Ég ætla í kvöld að steikja fisk. – possible, but less natural; Icelandic usually keeps í kvöld together and often at the end.

The basic rule is: the finite verb (ætla) stays in second position of the main clause (the V2 rule):

• [Í kvöld] ætla ég að steikja fisk.
  (first field: í kvöld, second position: ætla)

How do I make the sentence negative? How do I say I’m not going to fry fish tonight?

Place ekki after the finite verb (ætla):

• Ég ætla ekki að steikja fisk í kvöld.
  I am not going to fry fish tonight.

Word order pattern:

• Ég (subject)
• ætla (finite verb)
• ekki (negation)
• að steikja fisk í kvöld (rest of the verb phrase)

What is the difference between Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld and Ég mun steikja fisk í kvöld?

Both refer to the future, but with different nuances:

• Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld.
  – Emphasizes intention / plan. You have decided, you plan to do it.

• Ég mun steikja fisk í kvöld.
  – More like English I will fry fish tonight.
  – Neutral statement about the future; can sound slightly more formal or definite, less about personal planning.

In everyday speech, ég ætla að… is very common when talking about what you are going to do.

How is Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld pronounced? Especially Ég, ætla, and kvöld?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA + rough English hints):

• Ég – [jɛiːɣ] or often [jɛː] in fast speech

  • like “yeh” with a bit of yé sound, the g is soft or almost silent.

• ætla – [ˈaitla]

  • æ like “eye”, tl pronounced together, stress on the first syllable: EYE-tla.

• að – [að] or reduced [a] in rapid speech

  • á like “a” in “father”, ð like soft th in this; often very weak.

• steikja – [ˈsteiːca]

  • steyk-ya; ei like “ay” in day, kj is a voiceless palatal sound, somewhere between ky and German ich.

• fisk – [fɪsk]

  • similar to English “fisk”, short i.

• í – [iː]

  • like long ee in see.

• kvöld – [kvœlt] (roughly)

  • kv as in “kv” in “Kvetch”
  • ö like German ö or French eu in peur
  • final -ld / -lt is a bit merged; many learners approximate it as kvölt.

Stress is always on the first syllable of each word in Icelandic.

What case is kvöld in, and why? Does í always take the same case?

In í kvöld, kvöld is in the accusative.

The preposition í can govern either accusative or dative, depending on meaning:

• í

  • accusative – movement into / time span / many time expressions
  • Ég fer í skólann. – I go to (into) school.
  • Í kvöld. – tonight.

• í

  • dative – location (being inside something)
  • Ég er í skólanum. – I am in school.

Í kvöld is a fixed time expression, and kvöld here is accusative.

How is fiskur declined? What are its main forms?

Fiskur is a masculine noun. Singular forms:

• Nominative: fiskur – (a) fish (subject)
• Accusative: fisk – fish (direct object)
• Dative: fiski – to/for a fish
• Genitive: fisks – of a fish

Definite singular:

• Nom.: fiskurinn – the fish
• Acc.: fiskinn – the fish (object)
• Dat.: fiskinum
• Gen.: fisksins

In the sentence, we use fisk (accusative singular, indefinite) because it is the direct object of steikja.

Could I just say Ég steikji fisk í kvöld or Ég steik fisk í kvöld to mean the same thing?

No, not in that exact form:

• Ég steik fisk í kvöld. – grammatically correct present tense,
  but normally means I fry fish tonight (a scheduled or habitual action) and sounds odd for a plan you’re stating now.

• Ég steikji fisk í kvöld. – incorrect; that looks like a wrong attempt at the subjunctive.

To express a plan/intention, the most natural options are:

• Ég ætla að steikja fisk í kvöld. – I’m going to fry fish tonight.
• Ég mun steikja fisk í kvöld. – I will fry fish tonight. (neutral future)

Using ætla is the most typical for “I’m going to …” in everyday talk.