Ég sef lengur þegar ég er í fríi.

I sleep longer when I am on vacation.

Breakdown of Ég sef lengur þegar ég er í fríi.

• ég: I
• vera: to be
• sofa: to sleep
• þegar: when

Questions & Answers about Ég sef lengur þegar ég er í fríi.

What does each word in Ég sef lengur þegar ég er í fríi mean?

A word-for-word breakdown is:

• Ég = I
• sef = sleep / am sleeping
  
  • this is the 1st person singular present form of sofa (to sleep)
• lengur = longer
• þegar = when
• ég = I
• er = am
• í fríi = on vacation / on holiday

So the sentence is built as:

• Ég sef lengur = I sleep longer
• þegar ég er í fríi = when I am on vacation

Why is it sef and not sofa?

Because sofa is the infinitive, meaning to sleep.

In a full sentence with I, Icelandic needs the conjugated verb form:

• að sofa = to sleep
• ég sef = I sleep

This verb is irregular, so the stem changes:

• sofa → sef

That is something learners simply need to get used to with common strong verbs.