Breakdown of Hvað ætlar þú að gera á laugardaginn?
þú
you
hvað
what
gera
to do / to make (something) + adjective
að
to (infinitive marker)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
ætla
to intend
laugardagur
Saturday
Questions & Answers about Hvað ætlar þú að gera á laugardaginn?
Why do we use the accusative form laugardaginn after á here?
When talking about an upcoming or specific day of the week (like "this Saturday"), Icelandic uses á followed by the accusative case. If you were talking about a repeating habit (like "I work on Saturdays"), you would use the dative case instead.
Why is there an -inn at the end of laugardaginn?
That is the attached definite article (the word for "the"). While English just says "on Saturday", Icelandic literally says "on the Saturday" when referring to this specific upcoming day. Since laugardagur is a masculine word and we need the accusative case here, the ending becomes -inn.
How does ætlar ... að gera translate to "are going to do"?
The verb ætla means "to intend" or "to plan". To express future plans, Icelandic uses a conjugated form of ætla + að + the basic (infinitive) form of an action verb. Here, gera means "to do", so the phrase literally means "What do you intend to do?".
Why is the subject þú placed after the verb ætlar?
In Icelandic questions that start with a question word like Hvað (What), the verb must be the second piece of the sentence. The subject (þú) swaps places with the verb, giving us Hvað ætlar þú (What intend you) instead of "Hvað þú ætlar".
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