Questions & Answers about Ég er búinn með verkefnið.
Is the word in the middle, búinn, a verb or an adjective here?
It’s an adjective (a past participle used adjectivally), not a verb. The actual verb in the sentence is er (from vera, “to be”). So the structure is literally “I am done/finished with the assignment,” where búinn describes your state.
Why is it er (“am”) and not hef (“have”), like English present perfect?
Icelandic often uses a stative construction with vera + búinn to express a completed result. English uses a perfect auxiliary (“I have finished”), but Icelandic commonly says “I am finished/done.” If you want a true perfect, you use hafa with a suitable verb:
- Ég hef klárað verkefnið. = I have finished the assignment.
- Ég hef lokið verkefninu. = I have completed the assignment. (more formal)
What’s the difference between búinn með and búinn að?
- búinn með + accusative noun focuses on being done with a thing/object/resource:
- Ég er búinn með verkefnið. I’m done with the assignment.
- Hún er búin með matinn. She’s done with the food.
- búinn að + infinitive focuses on having done an action:
- Ég er búinn að gera það. I have done that / I’m done doing that.
They often overlap in meaning, but the grammar differs: noun after með, infinitive after að.
Why is með followed by the accusative () here?