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Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.

Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.
We watch the video again tonight.

Breakdown of Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.

við
we
aftur
again
í kvöld
tonight
horfa á
to watch
myndbandið
the video
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Questions & Answers about Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.

Why does the sentence start with Við? Can it be dropped?

Við is the 1st-person plural pronoun we. In Icelandic it’s common (especially in speech) to drop the subject pronoun when it’s obvious from the verb ending.
So both are possible:

  • Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.
  • Horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld. (more conversational)
What form is horfum, and why does it end in -um?

Horfum is the present tense, 1st-person plural form of að horfa (to watch / to look).
The ending -um is the regular present plural ending for many verbs in Icelandic:

  • ég horfi
  • þú horfir
  • hann/hún/það horfir
  • við horfum
  • þið horfið
  • þeir/þær/þau horfa
Why is the preposition á used with horfa?

In Icelandic, horfa usually takes the fixed prepositional phrase horfa á = watch/look at something.
Without á, horfa tends to mean more like turn (your gaze) or face/look (in a direction) depending on context, but for “watch a video/movie,” horfa á is the normal construction.

What case is myndbandið, and how can I tell?

In horfa á X, the noun after á is typically in the accusative.
Myndbandið is:

  • base noun: myndband (neuter)
  • with definite article: myndbandið = the video
  • and in neuter singular, nominative and accusative look the same (so you don’t “see” a change here, but it’s still accusative by grammar).
Why is the attached to the end in myndbandið instead of being a separate word?

Icelandic usually expresses the with a suffix (enclitic definite article) added to the noun:

  • myndband = a video / video
  • myndbandið = the video

There is also a separate word hinn/hin/hið, but that’s used in more special/marked cases (very often with adjectives), not as the everyday equivalent of English the.

What does aftur mean here, and where does it normally go in the sentence?

Aftur means again. It’s an adverb and can move around a bit, but it commonly goes:

  • after the object: Við horfum á myndbandið aftur í kvöld.
  • or later in the clause: Við horfum á myndbandið í kvöld aftur. (often slightly more emphatic on “tonight”)

Your version is very natural and neutral.

Is this present tense actually talking about the future (tonight)?

Yes. Icelandic often uses the present tense for planned or expected future events, especially with time expressions like í kvöld (tonight).
If you want to be more explicit, you can also say:

  • Við ætlum að horfa á myndbandið aftur í kvöld. (We intend/are going to watch it again tonight.)
  • Við munum horfa á myndbandið aftur í kvöld. (We will watch it again tonight.) — more formal/definite
Why is it í kvöld and not something like á kvöldin?

Í kvöld is an idiomatic time expression meaning tonight (this evening).
Á kvöldin means in the evenings / in the evening (habitually), so it’s more like a general routine:

  • Við horfum á myndbönd á kvöldin. = We watch videos in the evenings.

So í kvöld = specific night; á kvöldin = general habit.

What case is kvöld, and why does í use that case here?

In í kvöld, the noun is in the accusative because í commonly takes accusative for time spans / time when expressions like this.
You can think of í + time as “during/this (time period)” in many set phrases:

  • í dag (today)
  • í kvöld (tonight)
  • í nótt (tonight/at night)
Does á ever take a different case than accusative?

Yes. Á can take:

  • accusative in many “toward/target” or activity uses (like horfa á something)
  • dative for location/state (often “on” in a physical sense)

Example contrast:

  • Horfa á sjónvarpið (acc.) = watch the TV (i.e., the program/screen)
  • Bókin er á borðinu (dat.) = the book is on the table

So the case depends on the meaning and the construction.

How do I pronounce the sentence (roughly)?

A rough, learner-friendly guide (approximate) is:

  • Við ~ vith (the ð is a soft “th” like in this)
  • horfum ~ HOR-vum (stress on the first syllable)
  • á ~ ow (like ou in loud, but longer)
  • myndbandið ~ MINT-ban-dith (final ð again like this)
  • aftur ~ AF-tur (u is more like a rounded “uh/ü” sound)
  • í ~ ee (long)
  • kvöld ~ kvolt (with rounded vowel; final -ld is quite “tight”)

Main stress in Icelandic is almost always on the first syllable of words.

Could I replace myndband with another common word for “video”?

Yes. Myndband is perfectly correct, but in everyday speech people also use loanwords like vídeó. For example:

  • Við horfum á vídeóið aftur í kvöld. (We watch the video again tonight.)

The grammar stays the same: á + definite noun (vídeóið = the video).