Á mánudögum drekk ég meira kaffi.

On Mondays I drink more coffee.

Breakdown of Á mánudögum drekk ég meira kaffi.

• ég: I
• drekka: to drink
• á: on
• kaffi: the coffee

Questions & Answers about Á mánudögum drekk ég meira kaffi.

What does Á mánudögum mean, and why is it plural?

It means on Mondays in the sense of a habitual/repeated action.

Icelandic often uses the plural for this kind of meaning, just like English does in on Mondays, in the evenings, and so on. So:

• Á mánudögum = on Mondays / every Monday
• it does not mean one specific Monday

If you wanted a single Monday, you would normally use a singular form instead.

Why is it mánudögum and not some other form of mánudagur?

Mánudögum is the form used here in the common expression meaning on Mondays.

The noun mánudagur means Monday, and mánudögum is its dative plural form. With repeated weekday expressions like this, Icelandic commonly uses this form after á:

• á mánudögum = on Mondays
• á þriðjudögum = on Tuesdays
• á föstudögum = on Fridays

So this is a very useful pattern to learn as a whole.

Why is it drekk ég instead of ég drekk?

Because Icelandic is usually a verb-second language.

That means the finite verb normally comes in the of a main clause. Here, the sentence starts with the time phrase , so the verb comes next: