Breakdown of Í gær gleymdi ég að hringja í hann.
ég
I
hann
he
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
í gær
yesterday
hringja
to call (by phone)
gleyma
to forget
Questions & Answers about Í gær gleymdi ég að hringja í hann.
Why does gleyma become gleymdi here?
Gleyma (to forget) is a weak verb. To make it past tense for ég (I), we drop the infinitive ending -a and add the past tense suffix -di. This makes gleymdi (I forgot).
Why is the word order gleymdi ég and not ég gleymdi?
Icelandic uses the V2 rule, meaning the verb is always the second piece of information in a main clause. Because we started with the time phrase í gær (yesterday), the verb gleymdi must come next, pushing the subject ég into the third spot.
What is the purpose of að before hringja?
The word að is the infinitive marker, just like the word 'to' in English. When you say 'forgot to call', the second verb stays in its dictionary form and gets an að in front of it: að hringja.
Why do we say hringja í hann instead of just hringja hann?
In Icelandic, the verb hringja (to ring or call) requires the preposition í (in or into) when calling someone on the phone. You literally say that you 'ring into' him, which is why we use í hann.
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