Í lok dagsins vil ég bara sofa.

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Breakdown of Í lok dagsins vil ég bara sofa.

• dagurinn: the day
• vilja: to want
• sofa: to sleep

Questions & Answers about Í lok dagsins vil ég bara sofa.

Why is it vil ég and not ég vil in this sentence?

Because Icelandic normally follows a verb-second pattern in main clauses.

Here, the sentence starts with the time phrase Í lok dagsins. Once that comes first, the finite verb usually has to come next:

• Í lok dagsins vil ég bara sofa.

So the order is:

• first: Í lok dagsins
• second: vil
• then: ég

If you start with the subject instead, then you get:

• Ég vil bara sofa í lok dagsins.

That is also grammatical, but the emphasis is a little different. The original sentence highlights at the end of the day first.

Why is it dagsins?

Dagsins is the genitive singular definite form of dagur meaning day.

The pattern is:

• dagur = a day
• dags = of a day
• dagsins = of the day

In í lok dagsins, the noun lok is followed by a genitive phrase, so dagsins means of the day.

So literally, the phrase is something like:

• í lok dagsins = in/at the end of the day

What does mean word for word?