Breakdown of Ársfundurinn er eftir mánuð.
vera
to be
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
mánuðurinn
the month
ársfundurinn
the annual meeting
Questions & Answers about Ársfundurinn er eftir mánuð.
Doesn't eftir usually mean 'after'? Why does it translate to 'in' here?
You are right that eftir often means 'after' in other contexts. However, when you are stating how much time is left before a future event happens, eftir translates to 'in'. When used as this kind of future time anchor, it always takes the accusative case.
Why is the word for month mánuð instead of the dictionary form mánuður?
This is because of the preposition eftir. When eftir is used to mean 'in an amount of time', it forces the time word into the accusative case. The masculine noun mánuður drops its -ur ending in the accusative, becoming mánuð.
Why use the present tense verb er when the meeting is in the future?
Just like in English, Icelandic frequently uses the present tense to talk about scheduled future events. Saying the meeting 'is' in a month (er eftir mánuð) is completely natural and much more common than forcing a future tense construction.
What is the s doing in the middle of ársfundurinn?
It acts as a connecting letter. The word ársfundur is a compound made of ár (year) and fundur (meeting). The s is the genitive (possessive) ending of ár, linking the two words together to literally mean 'meeting of the year', or annual meeting. The -inn at the end is the definite article 'the' attached to the noun.
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