Breakdown of Hann vinnur alltaf að heiman.
hann
he
alltaf
always
vinna
to work (general labor, to do work)
heiman
from home
Questions & Answers about Hann vinnur alltaf að heiman.
Since the -an suffix in heiman already means from, why do we add the preposition að?
While heiman does carry the meaning of from home on its own, Icelandic traditionally pairs it with að to form the fixed expression að heiman. You will see this specific combination used for things like working from home, leaving home, or moving out of your parents' house.
Is heiman a noun here, and does its ending change depending on the case?
No, heiman is a directional adverb, not a noun. The -an at the end is a special suffix showing movement away from a place, not a case ending. Because it is an adverb, it never changes its form regardless of the sentence structure.
Could I put alltaf at the end of the sentence instead?
Saying Hann vinnur að heiman alltaf would sound unnatural. In Icelandic main clauses, adverbs of time and frequency like alltaf generally belong right after the verb, coming before prepositional phrases like að heiman.
Why don't we use the noun heimili (home) and say frá heimilinu instead?
Að heiman is the natural, idiomatic way to talk about home as a general concept or state of being. Using the noun heimili with the preposition frá (frá heimilinu) sounds very literal, as if you are describing a physical object moving away from a specific building.
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