Ég ætla að kíkja á veðurspána áður en við förum út.

I am going to take a look at the weather forecast before we go out.

Breakdown of Ég ætla að kíkja á veðurspána áður en við förum út.

• ég: I
• við: we
• fara: to go
• áður en: before

Questions & Answers about Ég ætla að kíkja á veðurspána áður en við förum út.

What does ætla að mean here?

Ætla að + infinitive is a very common way to express intention or a near-future plan in Icelandic.

So Ég ætla að kíkja means something like:

• I’m going to check
• I intend to check
• I’m about to take a look

Icelandic does not rely on a single future tense the way English uses will. Very often, future meaning is expressed with the present tense or with constructions like ætla að.

Why is there an að before kíkja?

Because ætla normally takes an infinitive with að.

So the pattern is:

• ætla að gera eitthvað = intend to do something

Here:

• ætla að kíkja = intend to check / am going to check

This að is the infinitive marker, similar to English to in to check.

What does kíkja á mean exactly?

Kíkja á is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• take a quick look at
• check
• have a look at

So kíkja á veðurspána is very natural Icelandic for check the weather forecast.

The verb kíkja by itself can mean something like peek or look in, but in everyday speech kíkja á is often just a casual way to say look at/check.