Movement or Location With í and á

Level 2

After í and á: accusative for going there, dative for being there. Ég fer í bæinn, Ég er í bænum.

How It Works

The rule.

  • Movement toward a place, the answer to hvert? (where to?): accusative.
  • Being in a place, the answer to hvar? (where?): dative.

With í.

  • Ég fer í bæinn. (I am going into town.)
  • Ég er í bænum. (I am in town.)
  • Ég fer í vinnuna klukkan átta. / Ég er í vinnunni.

With á.

  • Hún setti bókina á borðið. (She put the book on the table.)
  • Bókin er á borðinu. (The book is on the table.)

Putting something somewhere. Verbs like setja (put) and leggja (lay) count as movement, so they take the accusative: á borðið.

Same form, different case. Some nouns look the same in both cases, such as Reykjavík, so the difference only shows with other nouns. Which of í and á a place takes is its own question; see á Íslandi/í Reykjavík. undir (under) and yfir (over) follow the same rule; see undir/yfir. The adverbs heim/heima show the same idea without a preposition.

Examples (6)

  1. Ég fer í bæinn.

    I am going into town.

    Word by Word: I go into town-the.

    Movement: accusative bæinn.

  2. Ég er í bænum.

    I am in town.

    Word by Word: I am in town-the.

    Location: dative bænum.

  3. Hún setti bókina á borðið.

    She put the book on the table.

    Word by Word: She put book-the on table-the.

    Putting something somewhere counts as movement: accusative borðið.

  4. Bókin er á borðinu.

    The book is on the table.

    Word by Word: Book-the is on table-the.

    Location: dative borðinu.

  5. Ég fer í vinnuna klukkan átta.

    I go to work at eight.

    Word by Word: I go into work-the clock eight.

  6. Hún er í vinnunni núna.

    She is at work now.

    Word by Word: She is in work-the now.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the dative after a verb of movement.

    Ég fer í skólanum.
    Ég fer í skólann.

    fara means moving toward the school, so í takes the accusative skólann.

  • Using the accusative for where something is.

    Bókin er á borðið.
    Bókin er á borðinu.

    The book is already on the table and is not moving, so á takes the dative borðinu.

How It Connects

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Movement or Location With í and áLevel 2

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Movement or location builds on á and the dative.

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Words in This Pattern

á