Ég ætla ekki að vinna hér lengur.

Ætla að + infinitive means to intend to, to plan to, or very often to be going to.

So Ég ætla ekki að vinna hér lengur is built around:

• ég = I
• ætla = intend / am going to
• að vinna = to work

In everyday Icelandic, ætla að is a very common way to talk about future plans or intentions.

Here að is the infinitive marker, like English to in to work.

So:

• vinna = work
• að vinna = to work

After ætla, Icelandic normally uses að + infinitive:

• Ég ætla að fara = I’m going to go
• Ég ætla að borða = I’m going to eat
• Ég ætla að vinna = I’m going to work

So in your sentence, að vinna simply means to work.

Because ekki usually comes after the finite verb in a normal main clause.

The finite verb here is ætla.

So the structure is:

• Ég = subject
• ætla = finite verb
• ekki = not
• að vinna hér lengur = rest of the clause

That gives:

• Ég ætla ekki að vinna hér lengur

This is very typical Icelandic word order.

Because after að, Icelandic uses the infinitive, not a conjugated form.

Compare:

• Ég vinn = I work
• Ég vinn ekki hér lengur = I don’t work here anymore

But:

• Ég ætla að vinna = I’m going to work
• Ég ætla ekki að vinna hér lengur = I’m not going to work here anymore / I no longer intend to work here

So vinna is correct because it follows að.

Lengur means any longer, anymore, or no longer in negative contexts.

So:

• ekki ... lengur = not ... anymore / no longer

Examples:

• Ég bý ekki hér lengur = I don’t live here anymore
• Hann vinnur ekki hér lengur = He doesn’t work here anymore

In your sentence, lengur adds the idea that this used to be true, but is not true from now on.

Usually, lengur is most natural in negative sentences or in contexts with a negative meaning.

So these are very common:

• ekki lengur = no longer / not anymore
• aldrei lengur = never again / no longer ever

A positive sentence with lengur is much less common and often sounds unnatural unless the structure is more specific. For learners, it is safest to remember lengur mainly with negatives such as ekki.

This is a very useful distinction.

• Ég vinn ekki hér lengur = I don’t work here anymore
  • This states a current fact.
• Ég ætla ekki að vinna hér lengur = I’m not going to work here anymore / I do not intend to work here any longer
  • This emphasizes intention or decision.

So the sentence with ætla can sound like a decision about the future, while the sentence without ætla simply states that the situation is already no longer true.

Hér means here.

It refers to location, not movement. So:

• hér = here
• þar = there

In this sentence, the speaker means working in this place, so hér is the correct word.

This is a location vs. movement distinction.

• hér = here, at this place
• hingað = to here, to this place

Since vinna hér means work here (work at this location), you use hér.

You would use hingað with motion toward the place:

• Ég kem hingað á morgun = I’m coming here tomorrow

But:

• Ég vinn hér = I work here

Yes, often you can.

• hér = here
• hérna = here

In many contexts, hérna is a slightly more colloquial or emphatic version, but both are common.

So Ég ætla ekki að vinna hérna lengur is possible and natural in speech.

Not exactly.

Icelandic does not have a single dedicated future tense ending like some languages do. Instead, future meaning is often expressed through:

• present tense with context
• modal verbs
• expressions like ætla að

So ætla að is not a special future tense form, but it often works like English be going to.

Here it is first person singular present tense:

• ég ætla = I intend / I am going to

Some present-tense forms are:

• ég ætla
• þú ætlar
• hann/hún/það ætlar
• við ætlum
• þið ætlið
• þeir/þær/þau ætla

So Ég ætla matches the subject ég.

Because Icelandic expresses this idea differently.

English says:

• I am going to work here

But Icelandic uses the verb ætla itself:

• Ég ætla að vinna hér

So ætla already carries the meaning of intention or planned future. You do not need a separate helping verb like English am.

The pattern is:

• Ég = subject
• ætla = finite verb
• ekki = negation
• að vinna = infinitive phrase
• hér = place
• lengur = anymore / any longer

So the full structure is:

Subject + finite verb + ekki + að + infinitive + place + lengur

That is a very normal Icelandic sentence pattern.

A very literal translation would be something like:

I intend not to work here any longer.

But that sounds a bit formal or stiff in normal English. More natural English translations are:

• I’m not going to work here anymore.
• I don’t intend to work here any longer.
• I won’t be working here anymore.

So the Icelandic structure is straightforward, but the most natural English wording may vary.

A rough learner-friendly guide might be:

Yehg EYE-tla EHK-ki ath VIN-na hair LENG-ur

A few notes:

• Ég begins with a y-like sound in modern pronunciation.
• ætla contains the vowel æ, roughly like eye.
• ekki has a clear k sound.
• að is often pronounced very lightly in normal speech.
• hér has a vowel like yehr or hyair, depending on accent and how precise you want to be.
• lengur has stress on the first syllable: LEN-gur.

As usual in Icelandic, the first syllable of each word is generally stressed.