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Ég á ekki eftir að strauja fleiri föt í kvöld, því ég er of þreyttur.

Ég á ekki eftir að strauja fleiri föt í kvöld, því ég er of þreyttur.
I do not have any more clothes left to iron tonight, because I am too tired.
FromLesson 40inHardcore Icelandic
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Questions & Answers about Ég á ekki eftir að strauja fleiri föt í kvöld, því ég er of þreyttur.

What does á ekki eftir að mean in this sentence?

Here ég á ekki eftir að strauja... is an idiomatic way to say that something is not still ahead for the speaker to do.

In this sentence, it means something like:

  • I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight
  • I don’t have any more ironing left in me tonight
  • I won’t be ironing any more tonight

The positive version, ég á eftir að strauja, often means:

  • I still have to iron
  • I have yet to iron
  • I’m still going to iron

So adding ekki makes it negative: I’m not going to / I won’t.

Why is ekki placed after á?

Because á is the finite verb in the clause, and in Icelandic the finite verb usually comes early in the sentence, with ekki following it.

So:

  • Ég á ekki eftir að...

not

  • Ég ekki á eftir að...

This is very normal Icelandic word order. The negation ekki comes after the finite verb and negates the whole idea:

  • I do not have ahead of me to iron more clothes tonight
  • more naturally: I’m not going to iron more clothes tonight
Is ég á eftir að the same as a future tense?

Not exactly, but it often behaves a lot like one in English translation.

Icelandic does not have a dedicated future tense in the same way many languages do. Instead, it often uses present-tense forms plus context or idiomatic expressions.

Ég á eftir að + infinitive can mean:

  • something still remains to be done
  • something will happen later
  • something is yet to happen

So in many situations it translates naturally with English will, going to, or still have to.

For example:

  • Ég á eftir að lesa bókina.
    I still have to read the book.
  • Það á eftir að rigna.
    It’s going to rain later / It has yet to rain.

In your sentence, the most natural English meaning is I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight.

Why is strauja in the infinitive?

Because the structure is:

  • eiga eftir að + infinitive

So after að, you use the basic verb form, here strauja = to iron.

Examples:

  • Ég á eftir að borða.
    I still have to eat.
  • Hún á eftir að hringja.
    She still has to call.

So að strauja means to iron, and the full phrase is built around that infinitive.

What does fleiri mean, and why is it used instead of meiri?

Fleiri means more when talking about countable things.

Here, föt means clothes / garments, which are treated as countable items, so Icelandic uses fleiri:

  • fleiri föt = more clothes

Compare:

  • fleiri = more of countable things
  • meiri = more of uncountable stuff, amount, degree

Examples:

  • fleiri bækur = more books
  • fleiri dagar = more days
  • meira vatn = more water
  • meiri tími = more time

So fleiri föt is the correct choice.

Why is it föt and not a singular word?

Because föt usually means clothes as a general plural idea, much like English clothes.

The singular fat does exist, but it means a garment / an article of clothing, and it is much less commonly used in everyday speech than the plural föt.

So:

  • fat = one garment
  • föt = clothes

In this sentence, the speaker means more clothes to iron, not just one item, so föt is natural.

What does í kvöld mean exactly?

Í kvöld means tonight.

It is a fixed time expression:

  • í morgun = this morning
  • í dag = today
  • í kvöld = tonight

So:

  • í kvöld = during this evening / tonight

In your sentence, it tells you when the ironing is not going to happen.

What does því mean here?

Here því means because.

So the second part of the sentence:

  • því ég er of þreyttur

means:

  • because I am too tired

This is a common way to introduce a reason in Icelandic, especially in writing and careful speech.

You may also see:

  • af því að = because

Both can introduce a reason, but því is shorter and very common.

Why is it of þreyttur and not mjög þreyttur?

Because of means too, while mjög means very.

That is an important difference:

  • mjög þreyttur = very tired
  • of þreyttur = too tired

In the sentence, the speaker is not just describing strong tiredness. They are saying the tiredness is so great that it prevents the action:

  • I am too tired to continue ironing

So of is exactly the right word here.

Why does the adjective appear as þreyttur?

Because Icelandic adjectives agree with the person they describe in gender, number, and case.

Here the subject is ég = I, and the speaker is using the masculine singular form:

  • þreyttur = masculine singular

If the speaker were female, it would usually be:

  • Ég er of þreytt.

So the ending tells you something about the speaker’s grammatical gender.

Very roughly:

  • þreyttur = masculine singular
  • þreytt = feminine singular or neuter singular in this kind of predicate use
Why is there a comma before því?

Because því ég er of þreyttur is giving the reason for the first clause.

The sentence has two parts:

  1. Ég á ekki eftir að strauja fleiri föt í kvöld
  2. því ég er of þreyttur

The comma helps separate the main statement from the explanation:

  • I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight, because I’m too tired.

This is very natural punctuation in Icelandic.

Could this sentence be translated more than one way in English?

Yes. A few natural translations are possible, depending on how literally or naturally you want to express á ekki eftir að.

Possible translations include:

  • I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight, because I’m too tired.
  • I won’t iron any more clothes tonight, because I’m too tired.
  • I still won’t be ironing any more clothes tonight, because I’m too tired.
  • I’m not going to do any more ironing tonight, because I’m too tired.

The most natural English version is probably:

  • I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight, because I’m too tired.
Can fleiri föt imply any more clothes rather than just more clothes?

Yes. In a negative sentence, English often prefers any more even where Icelandic simply uses fleiri.

So:

  • Ég á ekki eftir að strauja fleiri föt í kvöld

can naturally become:

  • I’m not going to iron more clothes tonight
  • or more idiomatically in English: I’m not going to iron any more clothes tonight

The Icelandic does not need a separate word matching English any here. The negative meaning plus fleiri already gives that sense.

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