Ég vil frekar sofa lengur á frídögum.

I would rather sleep longer on days off.

Breakdown of Ég vil frekar sofa lengur á frídögum.

• ég: I
• sofa: to sleep
• á: on
• frídagurinn: the day off
• lengur: longer
• vilja frekar: would rather

Questions & Answers about Ég vil frekar sofa lengur á frídögum.

What does frekar mean here, and how is it different from just saying Ég vil sofa lengur?

Frekar means rather / preferably. With vil, it commonly expresses preference: Ég vil frekar… = I’d rather… / I prefer to…
Without frekar, Ég vil sofa lengur is simply I want to sleep longer, which can sound more like a straightforward desire than a comparison/preference.

Why is the word order Ég vil frekar sofa… and not Ég frekar vil…?

In Icelandic main clauses, the finite verb (here vil) typically comes early (V2 structure), and many adverbs (like frekar) often appear after the finite verb and before the infinitive phrase:

• Ég vil frekar
  • sofa…
    Putting frekar before vil is generally not the neutral, everyday order.

Why is vil used—what verb is it, and what form is it?

Vil is the 1st person singular present tense of vilja (to want / to wish).
So Ég vil = I want / I will (in the sense of “want”). It’s not the future tense; Icelandic usually expresses future with present tense + context.

Why is sofa in the infinitive, and why isn’t it conjugated?

After verbs like vilja (and other “modal-like” verbs such as geta “can”, ætla “intend”), Icelandic typically uses an infinitive:

• Ég vil sofa = “I want to sleep”
  Only the first verb (vil) is finite/conjugated; sofa stays infinitive.

Should there be an að before sofa (like Ég vil að sofa…)?

No. With vilja + infinitive, you normally do not use að:

• Ég vil sofa (natural)
  Using að here would sound ungrammatical or would require a different structure. Að is used in other contexts (e.g., as a marker with some infinitive constructions, or as a conjunction meaning “that”), but not in this basic vilja + infinitive pattern.

Why is it lengur and not lengi?

Lengur is the comparative form meaning longer (as an adverb here).

• lengi = for a long time
• lengur = longer (implying “than usual / than something else”)
  Since the sentence expresses “sleep longer,” the comparative lengur is the right choice.

How do you form lengur—is it related to langur?

Yes. The forms are related:

• langur = “long” (adjective; masculine nominative singular)
• lengi = “for a long time” (adverb)
• lengur = “longer” (comparative adverb; also used as comparative adjective in some forms)
  Icelandic comparatives are often irregular in English terms; you learn the comparative as its own common form.

Why does á frídögum use á—doesn’t á usually mean “on” in a physical sense?

Á often means on physically, but it’s also used for time expressions, especially meaning on/during certain days or occasions.
So á frídögum works like “on holidays / during holidays.”

Why is it frídögum (with -um) and not frídagar?

Because á governs the dative case in this kind of time expression.

• Nominative plural: frídagar
• Dative plural: frídögum
  So á frídögum = on/during holidays (literally “on holidays” with dative).

What is the dictionary form of frídögum, and how does it decline?

The dictionary form is frídagur (masculine). A common set of forms:

• Singular: frídagur (nom), frídag (acc), frídegi (dat), frídags (gen)
• Plural: frídagar (nom), frídaga (acc), frídögum (dat), frídaga (gen)
  In the sentence you see the dative plural: frídögum.

Does frídagar here mean official public holidays, or can it include weekends?

Frídagur literally means day off and can cover holidays or days you’re free, depending on context. For weekends specifically, Icelandic often uses helgi / helgar. If you mean “on weekends,” you’d commonly say um helgar.

Do I have to include Ég (the subject), or can it be dropped like in some languages?

In full, neutral Icelandic sentences, the subject is normally stated: Ég vil…
You can omit it in short answers or very informal contexts when it’s obvious (similar to English answers like “Prefer to sleep longer”), but Icelandic is not generally a “drop-the-pronoun” language in normal declarative sentences.

How is this sentence pronounced, especially Ég and the accented vowels?

A few key points:

• Ég: the g is not a hard English g; it’s softer, and the word is short (often roughly like “yeh/eh” depending on speaker and context).
• í in frídögum is a long ee sound.
• Stress is usually on the first syllable: FRÍ-dögum, FRE-kar, SO-fa, LEN-gur.
  The accents (like í and á) are part of the spelling and indicate different vowel sounds, so they matter.