Ég ætla að sækja um námskeiðið á morgun.

Ég ætla að means I intend to or I’m going to.

A quick breakdown:

• Ég = I
• ætla = intend / plan / be going to
• að = the infinitive marker to before the next verb

So Ég ætla að sækja um... is a very common Icelandic way to talk about a future plan or intention.

Because ætla is normally followed by að + infinitive.

So the pattern is:

• ætla að + verb

Examples:

• Ég ætla að fara = I’m going to go
• Ég ætla að læra = I’m going to study
• Ég ætla að sækja um = I’m going to apply

Here, sækja is in the infinitive, and að works like English to.

Sækja um means to apply for.

This is a fixed verb + preposition combination, and you should learn it as a unit:

• sækja um starf = apply for a job
• sækja um skóla = apply for a school
• sækja um námskeið = apply for a course

This is important because sækja by itself can mean other things too, such as fetch, seek, or sometimes attend/go to, depending on context. But sækja um specifically means apply for.

Because the expression is sækja um and not just sækja when you mean apply for.

So:

• sækja alone = can mean things like fetch, seek, or attend
• sækja um = apply for

English learners often want to translate word by word, but here it is better to memorize sækja um as a single expression.

Because námskeiðið means the course, while námskeið means a course or just course.

Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• námskeið = course
• námskeiðið = the course

The ending -ið is the definite article here.

It is in the accusative, because the preposition um takes the accusative in this expression.

So in sækja um námskeiðið:

• um governs the accusative
• therefore námskeiðið is accusative

For this particular noun, the form námskeiðið looks the same in nominative and accusative singular, which is very common with neuter nouns in Icelandic. So the case is not obvious from the ending alone, but grammatically it is accusative here.

Námskeið is a neuter noun.

That matters because noun gender affects:

• the definite ending
• adjective agreement
• pronouns referring back to the noun

In this sentence, the definite singular form is námskeiðið.

Grammatically, ætla is in the present tense, but the whole sentence usually refers to the future.

So Ég ætla að sækja um námskeiðið á morgun means something like:

• I’m going to apply for the course tomorrow
• I intend to apply for the course tomorrow

Icelandic often uses present-tense forms plus context or helper verbs like ætla að to express future meaning.

Á morgun is the normal Icelandic expression for tomorrow.

Literally, it looks like on tomorrow, but you should treat it as a fixed time expression.

Examples:

• í dag = today
• í gær = yesterday
• á morgun = tomorrow

So even though the preposition may seem unusual from an English perspective, á morgun is the standard idiomatic way to say it.

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible, though not completely free.

The original sentence is:

• Ég ætla að sækja um námskeiðið á morgun.

You can also say:

• Á morgun ætla ég að sækja um námskeiðið.

That version puts emphasis on tomorrow. Notice that when Á morgun comes first, the finite verb ætla comes next, before ég. This is part of the normal Icelandic verb-second pattern.

Normally, no. Icelandic usually keeps the subject pronoun.

So you say:

• Ég ætla að... = I am going to...

You would not normally drop ég the way you might in Spanish or Italian. Icelandic verbs do show person and number, but the subject pronoun is still usually expressed.

A couple of things often stand out to English speakers:

• æ in ætla is pronounced somewhat like the vowel in English eye
• sj in sækja is not pronounced like English s + k separately
• ð in námskeiðið is a voiced sound like th in this, though in connected speech it can be quite soft

The exact pronunciation can vary a bit, but the main thing is to hear sækja um as a chunk and practice it repeatedly rather than trying to pronounce each letter in a very English way.

No, not with sækja um námskeiðið.

Because of um, the meaning is clearly apply for the course, not attend the course.

That is a useful distinction:

• sækja um námskeið = apply for a course
• sækja námskeið can mean attend a course in the right context

So the little word um changes the meaning a lot.

You would usually put ekki after the finite verb:

• Ég ætla ekki að sækja um námskeiðið á morgun.

That means:

• I’m not going to apply for the course tomorrow

This is a very useful pattern:

• Ég ætla ekki að fara. = I’m not going to go.
• Ég ætla ekki að læra. = I’m not going to study.

A yes-no question is made by putting the finite verb first:

• Ætlarðu að sækja um námskeiðið á morgun?

That means:

• Are you going to apply for the course tomorrow?

If you want to keep the same person as the original sentence, a direct question would not normally use ég, since you would usually ask another person. But structurally, the important thing is that the finite verb moves to the front in a question.