Expressing Completion Time
When you want to say how long it takes to finish an action or a project, such as "in two hours" or "in one week," Icelandic uses the preposition á followed by the time period.
| in (within a time span) | á |
The Preposition "á" with the Dative Case
When used to indicate a span of time in which something is completed, á requires the noun—and any adjectives or numbers describing it—to be in the dative case.
Here is how common units of time look in the dative case:
- mínúta (minute) becomes mínútum (plural)
- klukkutími (hour) becomes klukkutímum (plural)
- dagur (day) becomes dögum (plural)
- vika (week) becomes viku (singular) or vikum (plural)
- mánuður (month) becomes mánuðum (plural)
- ár (year) becomes ári (singular) or árum (plural)
Remember that the numbers 1 through 4 also decline to match the case and gender of the noun.
| I read the comic book in two hours. | Ég las myndasöguna á tveimur klukkutímum. |
| The programmer prepared the database in one week. | Forritarinn útbjó gagnagrunninn á einni viku. |
In the first example, tveir (two) changes to tveimur to match the dative plural masculine noun klukkutímum. In the second, ein (one) becomes einni for the dative singular feminine viku.
Talking About Work and Milestones
This pattern is especially useful when talking about how long it takes to complete a project or reach a goal.
| The programmer finished the setup in four days. | Forritarinn kláraði uppsetninguna á fjórum dögum. |
| She must finish the research project in one year. | Hún hlýtur að klára rannsóknarverkefnið á einu ári. |
Notice how the dative forms fjórum dögum (four days) and einu ári (one year) are used to express the exact timeframe of completion.
You can use this structure with any verb, as long as it describes finishing a task.
| We wrote the summary for the research project in five minutes. | Við skrifuðum samantektina fyrir rannsóknarverkefnið á fimm mínútum. |
| The setup must be finished in three months. | Uppsetningin hlýtur að klárast á þremur mánuðum. |
