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Icelandic

### 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.

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### 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.

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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.

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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.

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Completion time (á + dative)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative and the definite suffix (þetta er, -inn, -in, -ið)

Singular pronouns and to be (ég er, þú ert)

Singular adjective agreement

Yes/no questions (ert þú…?)

Basic negation (ekki)

Plural pronouns and to be (við erum, þeir eru)

Group 1 weak verbs (-ar)

Group 2 and 3 verbs (-ir, -ur)

Information questions (hvað, hver, hvar)

Expressing opinions (mér finnst, mér líkar)

Expressing desires (mig langar)

Numbers 1 to 10 (einn, tveir, þrír)

Direct objects on indefinite nouns

Direct objects on definite nouns

Singular object pronouns (mig, þig...)

Plural object pronouns (okkur, ykkur...)

Directional prepositions (um, í, á)

Verb-second word order

Expressing intentions (ætla að)

Needs and wants (þurfa, vilja)

Middle voice verbs (-st)

Possessive pronouns (minn, þinn)

Dative case with prepositions (í, á, frá)

Definite dative nouns (-num, -nni, -nu)

Dative personal pronouns (honum, henni, þeim)

Plural nouns (-ar, -ir, -ur)

Definite plural nouns (-nir, -nar, -in)

Accusative plural nouns

Number agreement 1 to 4 (einn, tveir…)

Singular commands

Past tense of the verb to be (var, vorum)

Present continuous (vera að)

Strong verbs in the present tense

Weather and dummy subjects (það)

Invariable possessive pronouns (hans, hennar, þeirra)

Accusative possessives (minn, þinn)

Accompaniment (með)

Dative plural (-um, -unum)

Compound sentences (og, en, eða)

"This" in the nominative (þessi, þessi, þetta)

"This" in the accusative (þennan, þessa, þetta)

Accusative adjectives (-an, -a, -t)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the accusative (einn, tvo, þrjá)

Third-person reflexive pronouns (sig, sér)

The preposition "to" with the genitive (til)

Subordinating conjunctions (að, af því að)

Simple past of weak verbs (-aði)

Question words (hvernig, hvaða)

Physical possession (vera með)

Abstract possession (hafa)

Telling time (hálf, korter)

Plural commands (-ið)

The simple past tense (-di, -ti, -ði)

Possessive noun endings (-s, -ar)

Days of the week (á mánudaginn, á mánudögum)

Kveðjur — greetings (halló, bless)

Um mig — where I am from

Kurteisi — please, sorry, congratulations

Ability and knowing how (kunna að)

Permission (mega)

Obligation (eiga að)

Plural strong verbs

Numbers 11 to 20 (ellefu, tólf...)

Counting by tens to 100 (þrjátíu, fjörutíu...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (fyrsti, annar...)

All / everything / everyone (allur)

The indefinite pronoun someone (einhver)

The indefinite pronoun no one (enginn)

Compound numbers from 21 (tuttugu og)

This in the dative singular (þessum, þessari, þessu)

These in the dative plural (þessum)

My and your in the dative (mínum, þínum)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the dative (einum, tveimur)

Adjectives in the dative singular (-um, -ri, -u)

Adjectives in the dative plural (-um)

Reflexive possessive in the accusative (sinn, sína, sitt)

Reflexive possessive in the dative (sínum, sinni)

Reflexive versus regular possessives (sinn, hans)

Demonstrative plural (þessir, þessar, þessi)

Definite genitive singular (-sins, -arinnar)

Indefinite genitive plural (-a)

Definite genitive plural (-anna)

Genitive prepositions (án, milli, vegna)

Prepositions of direction (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Prepositions of static location (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Question	Answer
the comic book	myndasagan
in (within a time span)	á
I read the comic book in two hours.	Ég las myndasöguna á tveimur klukkutímum.
the programmer	forritarinn
to prepare (e.g. food, equipment)	útbúa
the database	gagnagrunnurinn
The programmer prepared the database in one week.	Forritarinn útbjó gagnagrunninn á einni viku.
the accountant	bókhaldarinn
to review	yfirfara
the summary	samantektin
The accountant needs to review the summary.	Bókhaldarinn þarf að yfirfara samantektina.
the research project	rannsóknarverkefnið
She must finish the research project in one year.	Hún hlýtur að klára rannsóknarverkefnið á einu ári.
the catalog	vörulistinn
I need the new catalog, but it takes time to prepare it.	Mig vantar nýja vörulistann, en það tekur tíma að útbúa hann.
the setup	uppsetningin
The programmer finished the setup in four days.	Forritarinn kláraði uppsetninguna á fjórum dögum.
The programmer showed every employee the new catalog.	Forritarinn sýndi hverjum starfsmanni nýja vörulistann.
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.
We need to review the new comic book today.	Við þurfum að yfirfara nýju myndasöguna í dag.
The accountant read the comic book at noon.	Bókhaldarinn las myndasöguna í hádeginu.
The programmer has been preparing the database for a long time.	Forritarinn er búinn að vera að útbúa gagnagrunninn lengi.
the half hour	hálftíminn
I finish the project in half an hour.	Ég klára verkefnið á hálftíma.
The half hour passed very quickly.	Hálftíminn leið mjög hratt.
the 24 hours, the day-and-night	sólarhringurinn
The shop is open around the clock.	Búðin er opin allan sólarhringinn.
It rained for a whole 24 hours.	Það rigndi í heilan sólarhring.

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