Word
Við ætlum að hitta lækninn á morgun.
Meaning
We are going to meet the doctor tomorrow.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Við ætlum að hitta lækninn á morgun.
læknirinn
the doctor
við
we
að
to (infinitive marker)
hitta
to meet
Questions & Answers about Við ætlum að hitta lækninn á morgun.
Why do we use hitta here instead of the middle voice form hittast?
The base verb hitta means 'to meet someone' and takes an object, which in this case is the doctor (lækninn). The middle voice verb hittast means 'to meet each other' and does not take an object. If you wanted to use the -st form, you would drop the doctor and just say Við ætlum að hittast (We are going to meet up).
Why is the word for doctor spelled lækninn here?
This is the accusative (object) form of the word læknir (doctor) with the definite article attached, giving us 'the doctor'. The verb hitta requires the person you are meeting to be in the accusative case. If the doctor were the subject doing the action, it would be læknirinn.
Doesn't ætla mean 'to intend'?
Yes, literally Við ætlum að means 'We intend to'. However, this is the most common way to express the future tense in Icelandic. It functions exactly like saying 'We are going to' in English.
Does á morgun literally mean 'on morning'?
Yes, literally it translates to 'on morning', but this is the standard set phrase for 'tomorrow' in Icelandic. You will use it constantly when talking about future plans.