Coordinating conjunctions (og, en, eða) join equals and leave word order untouched. Subordinating conjunctions do something more interesting: they introduce a clause that depends on another, and that subordinate clause behaves differently from a main clause. This page covers the everyday subordinators — að "that", ef "if", þegar "when", meðan "while", af því að "because", and the rest — and the two word-order effects they trigger. Both effects are invisible to English speakers, because English subordinate clauses keep the same order as main clauses. In Icelandic they do not, and the difference is one of the clearest fingerprints of a clause type.
The everyday subordinators
Here is the working set. Most are single words; a few are multi-word frames you should learn whole.
| Subordinator | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| að | that | the all-purpose complementiser |
| ef | if (condition) | not for "whether" — that's hvort |
| þegar | when | for a definite time |
| meðan | while | simultaneous action |
| af því að / því að | because | multi-word; gives a reason |
| þótt / þó að | although, even though | þótt = þó + að, fused |
| svo að | so that | multi-word; purpose/result |
| áður en | before | two words, always together |
| eftir að | after | two words, always together |
| þangað til | until | up to a point in time |
| nema | unless, except | negative condition |
A couple are worth flagging immediately. þótt is simply þó að fused into one word — you'll meet both, and they mean the same "although." af því að and svo að are multi-word units: the að is part of the conjunction, not a separate "that." And ef is "if" only in the conditional sense ("if it rains"); for "if" meaning "whether" (after spyrja, vita) you need hvort, which is a different page.
Ég veit að hún kemur á morgun.
I know that she's coming tomorrow. — að 'that' introduces the complement clause.
Hann fór heim þegar fundurinn var búinn.
He went home when the meeting was over. — þegar 'when'.
Við bíðum hér þangað til strætó kemur.
We'll wait here until the bus comes. — þangað til 'until'.
Effect 1: the subordinate clause loses V2
In a main clause, the finite verb stands second (the V2 rule). In a subordinate clause introduced by one of these conjunctions, that no longer holds in the same way: the subject sits right after the subordinator, and — the key diagnostic — sentence adverbs and ekki come before the finite verb, not after it. The verb is no longer "lifted" into second position.
Compare a main clause and the same content embedded:
| Type | Order |
|---|---|
| Main clause | Hann kom ekki. (verb kom before ekki) |
| Subordinate | … að hann kom ekki / (formal) að hann ekki kom. |
Hún sagði að hann kæmi ekki.
She said that he wasn't coming. — subordinate clause; subject hann sits right after að.
Ég held að hún sé ekki heima.
I think she's not home. — að-clause; the verb sé doesn't jump to second position.
Það er leiðinlegt að þú getir ekki komið.
It's a shame that you can't come. — að-clause with the negation following the verb (colloquial standard).
The position of ekki and other sentence adverbs (aldrei, oft, ekki, líklega) is the cleanest test. In a main clause they follow the finite verb; in a subordinate clause the conservative/careful standard puts them before it (… að hann *ekki kom), and everyday speech often keeps them after (… að hann kom ekki*). Either way, what you will never see is the main-clause-style inversion — you cannot front something inside the subordinate clause and bump the verb to second place. The subordinator already fills the "first slot," so there is no room for V2 to operate.
(Throughout, the choice between indicative and subjunctive after að — kemur vs komi, er vs sé — is its own topic and isn't covered here. The word-order facts hold regardless of mood.)
Effect 2: a fronted subordinate clause inverts the main clause
The second effect is about what happens outside the subordinate clause. Icelandic loves to put a subordinate clause first, for flow or emphasis. When it does, that whole clause counts as one constituent filling the first slot of the main clause — and because the main clause still obeys V2, its finite verb must come second, which means right after the subordinate clause and before its own subject. The main clause inverts.
| [ Subordinate clause ] | finite verb (2nd) | subject | … |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ef það rignir | verð | ég | heima. |
| Þegar ég kom heim | var | enginn | þar. |
Ef það rignir, verð ég heima.
If it rains, I'll stay home. — the ef-clause fills slot 1, so the main verb verð comes before its subject ég.
Þegar ég kom heim, var enginn þar.
When I got home, nobody was there. — fronted þegar-clause → main verb var before subject enginn.
Þótt hann sé ungur, talar hann reiprennandi íslensku.
Although he's young, he speaks fluent Icelandic. — fronted þótt-clause → talar hann, inverted.
This is the second blind spot for English speakers. In English, "If it rains, I'll stay home" keeps the subject before the verb in the main clause. Icelandic does not: Ef það rignir, *verð ég heima, with the verb jumping ahead of ég*. The fronted subordinate clause is one chunk, the verb is second, and the subject lands third — exactly the same inversion you get after any fronted adverb.
Af því að ég var þreyttur, fór ég snemma að sofa.
Because I was tired, I went to bed early. — fronted af því að-clause → fór ég, inverted.
Putting both effects together
A single sentence can show both effects at once: the inner clause without V2, the outer main clause inverted because the inner clause was fronted.
Þegar hann kemur ekki, verðum við að fara án hans.
When he doesn't come, we'll have to go without him. — inner clause: hann kemur ekki (no main-clause inversion inside); outer: verðum við (inverted after the fronted clause).
Read it slowly: inside the þegar-clause, ekki simply follows kemur (no fronting, no V2 acrobatics); then because the whole þegar-clause sits first, the main verb verðum comes second, before við. Two clauses, two different word-order behaviours, governed by the same underlying logic.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún segir að á morgun hún kemur.
Incorrect — you can't front 'á morgun' and trigger V2 inside a subordinate clause; keep subject-then-verb after að.
✅ Hún segir að hún komi á morgun.
She says she's coming tomorrow. — subject hún right after að; no inversion inside the clause.
English lets you reorder freely inside "that"-clauses, but Icelandic subordinate clauses don't run the main-clause V2 machinery. Keep the subject adjacent to the subordinator. (Marked "embedded V2" after reporting verbs is a real but separate option — see the subordinate clause order page.)
❌ Ef það rignir, ég verð heima.
Incorrect — after a fronted subordinate clause the main verb must come before its subject: verð ég.
✅ Ef það rignir, verð ég heima.
If it rains, I'll stay home.
This is the commonest error with conditionals. The fronted ef-clause is one constituent in slot 1, so the main verb inverts with the subject.
❌ Ég fór heim því að ég ekki var svangur lengur.
Word order off — colloquially the negation follows the verb here: ég var ekki svangur.
✅ Ég fór heim því að ég var ekki svangur lengur.
I went home because I wasn't hungry anymore. — natural everyday order: var ekki.
While the conservative standard allows ekki before the verb in subordinate clauses, in ordinary speech the verb + ekki order (var ekki) is the safe, natural default. Don't over-apply the "ekki goes first" rule.
❌ Ég veit ekki ef hún kemur.
Wrong subordinator — 'whether' after vita/spyrja is hvort, not ef.
✅ Ég veit ekki hvort hún kemur.
I don't know whether she's coming. — hvort for 'whether'; ef only for real conditions.
ef is "if" only in the conditional sense ("if it rains"). For "if = whether" after verbs of knowing and asking, use hvort.
❌ Förum áður hann kemur.
Incomplete conjunction — 'before' is áður en, two words, never áður alone here.
✅ Förum áður en hann kemur.
Let's go before he comes. — áður en is a fixed two-word subordinator.
áður en ("before") and eftir að ("after") are two-word units. Dropping the second word leaves an ungrammatical fragment.
Key Takeaways
- The everyday subordinators: að (that), ef (if), þegar (when), meðan (while), af því að / því að (because), þótt / þó að (although), svo að (so that), áður en (before), eftir að (after), þangað til (until), nema (unless).
- Effect 1: a subordinate clause loses main-clause V2; the subject stays next to the subordinator, and ekki / sentence adverbs can come before the finite verb (the clearest diagnostic).
- Effect 2: a fronted subordinate clause is one constituent in slot 1, so the following main clause inverts — Ef það rignir, *verð ég heima*.
- Both are invisible from English, where subordinate clauses keep main-clause order and conditionals don't invert.
- Watch the multi-word ones: þótt = þó + að; af því að, svo að, áður en, eftir að are fixed units; ef ≠ hvort.
Now practice Icelandic
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Coordinating Conjunctions: og, en, eða, néA2 — The conjunctions that link equals without disturbing word order — og (and), en (but), eða (or), né (nor), and the crucial heldur ('but rather') that obligatorily continues a negation (ekki X heldur Y), plus the correlative pairs bæði...og, hvorki...né, annaðhvort...eða.
- Conjunctions: Coordinating vs SubordinatingA2 — The split that governs all of Icelandic clause syntax — coordinating conjunctions (og, en, eða, né) join equals and leave word order untouched (V2 survives), while subordinating conjunctions (að, ef, þegar, af því að) open a clause with a different order, where the verb is pushed back behind any 'ekki' or sentence adverb.
- Subordinate Clause Word OrderB1 — How word order changes inside subordinate clauses — V2 is suspended, the subject stays next to the subordinator, and sentence adverbs/ekki precede the finite verb in the conservative standard (... að hann ekki kemur) — plus the marked 'embedded V2' option after reporting verbs.
- V2: The Verb-Second RuleA2 — The foundational rule of Icelandic main clauses — the finite verb is always the SECOND constituent, so fronting anything other than the subject forces verb-subject inversion (Í dag fer ég, Þetta veit ég ekki), unlike English which keeps the subject first.
- Where Negation Goes: Main vs SubordinateB1 — A placement drill for ekki and sentence adverbs across clause types — after the finite verb in main clauses (hann kemur ekki), before it in careful subordinate clauses (... að hann ekki komi), and between auxiliary and main verb in compound tenses (hann hefur ekki komið).
- að as Complementiser vs að as Infinitive MarkerB1 — The two jobs of the single word að: the complementiser 'that', which introduces a finite (often subjunctive) clause (ég veit að hann kemur), and the infinitive marker 'to', which sits before a verb stem (það er gott að synda). English splits these into 'that' and 'to'; Icelandic uses one word, so you must track whether a finite clause or an infinitive follows.