Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.

the child

Breakdown of Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.

• eftir: after
• kvöldmaturinn: the dinner
• kakan: the cake
• fá: to receive

Questions & Answers about Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.

What exactly does börnin mean, and how is it formed from barn?

Barn means child (a child).
Its plural is börn (children), with a vowel change a → ö. This type of vowel change in the plural is very common in Icelandic.

To say the children, Icelandic adds a definite ending to the noun instead of using a separate word:

• barn = child
• börn = children
• börn + in → börnin = the children

So börnin is börn (children) + the definite article -in → the children.
Grammatically, börnin is neuter plural nominative (the subject of the sentence).

Why isn’t there a separate word for the before börnin?

Icelandic normally does not use a separate article like English the in front of nouns. Instead, the definite article is a suffix attached to the end of the noun (or sometimes to an adjective+noun group).

So:

• English: the children
• Icelandic: börnin (one word, with -in marking definiteness)

There is also no indefinite article (a / an) in Icelandic. Context tells you whether you mean a child or the child, unless you add the definite ending.

What form of the verb is fá, and how does it agree with börnin?

The verb að fá means to get / receive / obtain.

In the sentence Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat, fá is:

• present tense
• 3rd person plural
• indicative mood

The full present conjugation is:

• ég fæ – I get
• þú færð – you get (singular)
• hann / hún / það fær – he / she / it gets
• við fáum – we get
• þið fáið – you get (plural)
• þeir / þær / þau fá – they get

Börnin (the children) is 3rd person plural, so it takes fá.
Notice that the 3rd person plural present form looks the same as the infinitive (fá).

Why is köku used here instead of kaka?

The base form is:

• kaka = cake (a cake)

Icelandic nouns change form (case) depending on their grammatical role. As the direct object of the verb, kaka goes into the accusative singular:

• nominative: kaka (subject form)
• accusative: köku (object form)

So in:

• Börnin fá köku – The children get cake / (a) cake

köku is accusative singular, because it’s the thing being received.

You also see a vowel change a → ö here, which is part of the regular declension of this noun.

Does köku mean “a cake” or “cake” in general?

It can mean either, depending on context:

• Börnin fá köku can be understood as:
  • The children get cake (some cake, cake as a food), or
  • The children get a cake (one whole cake)

Icelandic has no indefinite article (a / an), so kaka / köku can translate as a cake or simply cake. If you want to be more explicit, you can say for example:

• eina köku – one cake / a single cake
• smá köku – some (a little) cake
• mikið af köku – a lot of cake

But the plain köku already works naturally for “cake” or “a cake” in this sentence.

What does eftir mean here, and what case does it take with kvöldmat?

In this sentence, eftir means after in a time sense:

• eftir kvöldmat = after dinner

Eftir is a preposition that can take accusative or dative, with the case depending on meaning and context. With a time meaning like after (some event), it typically takes the accusative.

The noun is:

• kvöldmatur = dinner (literally “evening meal”)

Its singular forms include:

• nominative: kvöldmatur
• accusative: kvöldmat
• dative: kvöldmat
• genitive: kvöldmatar

Accusative and dative look the same here (kvöldmat), so you can’t see the difference in form, but in this time expression it’s functioning as accusative after eftir.

So eftir kvöldmat literally is after (the) dinner in the accusative.

Why is it kvöldmat and not kvöldmatur?

Kvöldmatur is the nominative form (the default dictionary form, used mainly for the subject):

• Kvöldmatur er klukkan sex. – Dinner is at six.

After the preposition eftir, we don’t use the nominative; we use an oblique case. For this noun, the accusative/dative singular is:

• kvöldmat

So:

• eftir kvöldmat – after dinner

We drop the -ur and the stem vowel also changes slightly according to the declension pattern. This kind of shortening (-ur → nothing) is very common with masculine nouns.

Can I change the word order, like Eftir kvöldmat fá börnin köku?

Yes, that word order is perfectly correct and very natural:

• Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.
• Eftir kvöldmat fá börnin köku.

Icelandic has a verb‑second (V2) tendency in main clauses, similar to German:

• One element (subject, time phrase, etc.) comes first.
• The finite verb (here: fá) usually comes second.

So if you move eftir kvöldmat to the beginning, you must move the verb up immediately after it:

• ✗ Eftir kvöldmat börnin fá köku. (sounds wrong in Icelandic)
• ✓ Eftir kvöldmat fá börnin köku. – After dinner, the children get cake.

What tense meaning does fá have here – is it present, future, or habitual?

Grammatically, fá is in the present tense.
However, Icelandic present tense can cover several meanings:

1. General / habitual:

   • Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.
     = The children (always / usually) get cake after dinner.

2. Scheduled future (especially with a time phrase):

   • Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.
     = The children will get cake after dinner.

English often uses will in such cases, but Icelandic is happy with the simple present + a time expression.

Context decides whether the speaker means a regular habit or a specific future occasion.

Can fá also mean “are allowed to have” in this sentence?

Yes, in everyday speech fá often carries a nuance of permission as well as receiving.

• Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat.

Can be understood as:

• The children get cake after dinner.
• The children may have cake after dinner.
• The children are allowed to have cake after dinner.

If you want to make permission very explicit, you could also use mega (may), but fá already often implies that someone is giving/allowing something to them.

How do you pronounce Börnin fá köku eftir kvöldmat?

A careful, learner‑friendly approximation (Reykjavík standard) is:

• Börnin – roughly: BUR-nin, but with rounded lips on the vowel:

  • IPA: /ˈpœr.nɪn/ (often with a slight [t] in there: [ˈpœrtnɪn])
  • ö: like the vowel in English “bird”, but with your lips rounded.
  • Stress on the first syllable: BÖR-nin.

• fá – like English “fow” in “fowl”:

  • IPA: /fau/ (long vowel: /fauː/)

• köku – roughly: KUR-ku, with rounded ö:

  • IPA: /ˈkʰøː.kʏ/
  • Stress on the first syllable: KÖ-ku.

• eftir – roughly: EF-tir:

  • IPA: /ˈɛf.tɪr/ or /ˈɛf.tɪɻ/

• kvöldmat – roughly: KVELD-mat with a short first vowel:

  • IPA: /ˈkvœlt.mat/
  • kv like kv in “kvetch”;
  • ö again like rounded “bird” sound.

Putting it together (very roughly):
BÖR-nin fow KÖ-ku EF-tir KVELT-mat,
with clear stress at the start of each content word.