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Ég ætla að ryksuga gólfið og gólfteppið í stofunni eftir vinnu.

Ég ætla að ryksuga gólfið og gólfteppið í stofunni eftir vinnu.
I am going to vacuum the floor and the rug in the living room after work.

Breakdown of Ég ætla að ryksuga gólfið og gólfteppið í stofunni eftir vinnu.

ég
I
ætla
to plan
í
in
og
and
eftir
after
vinnan
the work
stofan
the living room
gólfið
the floor
ryksuga
to vacuum
gólfteppið
the rug
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Questions & Answers about Ég ætla að ryksuga gólfið og gólfteppið í stofunni eftir vinnu.

What does ætla að mean here, and why is it used instead of something like “will”?

Ég ætla að + infinitive is a very common way to express an intention/plan: “I’m going to … / I intend to …”.
It often implies you’ve decided to do it.

If you used mun (e.g. Ég mun ryksuga…), that’s more like a neutral “I will …” (future), and it can sound more formal or definite. In everyday speech, ætla að is extremely common for planned actions.

Why is there an að before ryksuga?

In Icelandic, many verbs that take another verb after them use að as an infinitive marker, similar to English “to” in “to vacuum”.
So ætla að ryksuga = “plan/intend to vacuum”.

(English sometimes drops “to” in certain structures, but Icelandic typically keeps að here.)

Is ryksuga one word? What does it literally mean?

Yes, ryksuga is one verb meaning to vacuum (clean). It’s historically a compound of:

  • ryk = “dust”
  • suga = “to suck”

So it’s basically “dust-suck,” i.e. “vacuum.”

Why do gólfið and gólfteppið end in -ið?

That -ið is the definite article suffix for many neuter singular nouns (the “the” is attached to the end of the word).

  • gólf = “floor” → gólfið = “the floor”
  • gólfteppi = “carpet/rug” → gólfteppið = “the carpet”

In Icelandic you normally don’t use a separate word for “the”; it’s usually added onto the noun.

What case are gólfið and gólfteppið in?

They are the direct objects of ryksuga, so they are in the accusative.

However, because both nouns are neuter singular, the nominative and accusative forms look the same here:

  • nominative/accusative: gólfið, gólfteppið

So you can’t “see” the accusative ending in this particular example, but grammatically they function as accusative objects.

Do I have to repeat the definiteness on both nouns? Why not just gólfið og gólfteppi?

Normally, yes: if both things are definite, you mark both as definite:

  • gólfið og gólfteppið = “the floor and the carpet”

If you said gólfið og gólfteppi, it sounds like:

  • “the floor and (a) carpet” (mixed definiteness), which is usually not what you mean unless you intend that contrast.
What exactly is gólfteppi—is it a carpet or a rug?

gólfteppi literally means “floor-carpet” and can refer to a carpet or a rug, depending on context.
If you mean wall-to-wall carpeting specifically, Icelandic can also use terms like teppalagður (carpeted) or more specific phrasing, but gólfteppi is very common for “rug/carpet on the floor.”

Why is it í stofunni and not í stofuna?

Because í changes meaning depending on case:

  • í + dative = location (“in” as in where?)
    → í stofunni = “in the living room”
  • í + accusative = motion/direction (“into” as in where to?)
    → í stofuna = “into the living room”

Here you’re vacuuming in the living room (location), so it’s dative: stofunni.

What form is stofunni? How does it relate to the basic word?

The basic noun is stofa (feminine) = “living room / sitting room”.

stofunni is:

  • dative singular definite of stofa
  • built from stofu (dative singular) + -nni (definite ending)

So:

  • stofa = a living room
  • stofan = the living room (nominative definite)
  • stofunni = in/to/from the living room (dative definite, depending on preposition)
Why is it eftir vinnu and not eftir vinna or eftir vinnunni?

The preposition eftir governs the accusative, so vinna becomes vinnu (accusative singular).

As for definiteness:

  • eftir vinnu = “after work” (work in general / after your workday)
  • eftir vinnuna = “after the work” (a specific job/task/shift that’s definite in context)

Both are possible; eftir vinnu is the common “after work” expression.

Is the word order fixed? Can eftir vinnu move earlier in the sentence?

It can move. The given order is very natural: put time phrases at the end.

But you can also front the time phrase for emphasis, which triggers typical Icelandic verb-second (V2) order in main clauses:

  • Eftir vinnu ætla ég að ryksuga gólfið og gólfteppið í stofunni.

Both are correct; the choice is about focus and style.

How do you pronounce tricky parts like Ég, ætla, and gólfið?

A few practical notes:

  • Ég: the g is usually very soft (often like a “y” glide), so it can sound a bit like “yeh” in fast speech.
  • ætla: stress on the first syllable: ÆT-la.
  • gólfið: ó is like a long “o”; the ð is a soft “th” sound (like in “this”), though it can be very light in casual speech.