Level A1
To talk about time in Icelandic, you talk about the clock:
- Hvað er klukkan? = What is the clock?
- Klukkan er tvö. = The clock is two.
- Ég kem klukkan tvö. = I will come at two o’clock.
Note that the word klukka is feminine but the number is neuter . This is a very illogical, since in all other situations the gender of the number has to be the same as the gender of the noun.[a]
Hálf
In English, 09:30 is “half past nine” but in Icelandic it is “half ten”, which may be confusing at first.
- 11:30 – hálf tólf
- 07:30 – hálf átta
- 04:30 – hálf fimm
- 09:30 – hálf tíu
Minutes and quarters
For everything else, there is “yfir” and “í”.
- 12:15 – korter yfir tólf
- 12:05 – fimm mínútur yfir tólf
- 11:55 – fimm mínútur í tólf
- 11:45 – korter í tólf
AM/PM
Iceland does not use AM/PM, instead time is written in a 24 hour format[b] but spoken about in “during the day/evening/night/morning”.
| Written Icelandic | Spoken Icelandic |
|---|---|
| Klukkan var 02:00 þegar hann vaknaði. | Klukkan var tvö um nótt þegar hann vaknaði |
| Ég legg af stað 05:30. | Ég legg af stað hálf sex um morgun. |
| Klukkan 19:00. | Klukkan sjö um kvöld. |
Very uncommon ways to talk about time
Level C1
You do not need to know the following words, but you might hear them in formal speech:
- vantar (“is lacking”) – This is common to hear on the radio, but not in normal speech.
- Klukkuna vantar fimm mínútur í tvö. = It is five minutes to two.
- In normal speech you would say Klukkan er fimm mínútur í tvö.
- Klukkuna vantar fimm mínútur í tvö. = It is five minutes to two.
- ganga (“to walk”) – This is sometimes used by older speakers.
- Klukkan er að ganga tvö. = The time is anywhere between 01:01 and 01:59.