Staðfestingin var send í gær.

The confirmation was sent yesterday.

Breakdown of Staðfestingin var send í gær.

• vera: to be
• í gær: yesterday
• senda: to send
• staðfestingin: the confirmation

Questions & Answers about Staðfestingin var send í gær.

What form is the word Staðfestingin (case, number, gender, definiteness)?

• Lemma: staðfesting (confirmation)
• Gender: feminine (most -ing nouns are feminine)
• Number: singular
• Case: nominative (it’s the subject)
• Definiteness: definite (the suffixed article -in) So staðfesting + -in → staðfestingin = the confirmation (subject, nominative singular).

Why is it send and not sendur or sent?

In the passive with vera (to be), the past participle behaves like an adjective and agrees with the subject in gender, number, and case.

• Masculine singular nominative: sendur
• Feminine singular nominative: send
• Neuter singular nominative: sent Here the subject Staðfestingin is feminine singular nominative, so the correct form is send.

What is var doing here?

Var is the past tense (3rd person singular) of vera (to be). Vera + past participle forms the passive:

• Present: er send (is sent)
• Past: var send (was sent)
• Future: verður send (will be sent)
• Present perfect: hefur verið send (has been sent)

Is this passive voice? How would I say it in active voice?

Yes, it’s the (personal) passive. An active version needs an agent as the subject and the object in the accusative:

• Active: Þau sendu staðfestinguna í gær. (They sent the confirmation yesterday.) Note the object becomes staðfestinguna (definite accusative singular). In the passive, that object is promoted to subject: Staðfestingin var send…

Can I put í gær first? What happens to word order?

Yes. Icelandic is a V2 language: the finite verb must be in second position.

• Neutral: Staðfestingin var send í gær.
• With time first: Í gær var staðfestingin send. Avoid: Í gær staðfestingin var send (wrong, verb not in 2nd position).

Why is it í gær and not another preposition? Is gær a noun?

Í gær is a fixed adverbial meaning “yesterday.” Gær is an adverb here, not a noun, and the phrase is idiomatic. Related time phrases:

• í dag (today)
• í gærmorgun (yesterday morning)
• í gærkvöldi (last night) Note: “tomorrow” is á morgun, not í morgun (which means “this morning”).

How would the sentence look in the plural (if several confirmations were sent)?

Staðfestingarnar voru sendar í gær.

• Staðfestingarnar = the confirmations (feminine plural nominative definite)
• voru = past plural of vera
• sendar = feminine plural nominative of the participle agreeing with the subject

How do I add who sent it (the agent) in the passive?

Use af + dative for the “by”-phrase:

• Staðfestingin var send af Jóni í gær. (by Jón)
• Staðfestingin var send af Ólöfu í gær. (by Ólöf; dative: Ólöfu) Be careful: frá means “from” (origin), not the agent of a passive.

Can I say Staðfestingin hefur verið send instead of var send?

Yes, but not with í gær.

• Staðfestingin hefur verið send = “The confirmation has been sent” (result relevant now; time unspecified).
• With a specific past time like í gær, use simple past: Staðfestingin var send í gær. Avoid: hefur verið send í gær (unnatural, like English “has been sent yesterday”).

Why isn’t the participle something like sendað?

The verb senda has the irregular past participle stem send-:

• Past participle: sendur/send/sent (not sendað) Contrast with many regular verbs that do take -að, e.g., loka – lokað (to close – closed).

Can I also say Það var sent staðfestingu í gær? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s the impersonal passive:

• Það var sent staðfestingu í gær. Here there is no promoted subject; the thing sent stays in the accusative (staðfestingu), and the participle appears in neuter singular (sent). Contrast:
• Personal passive (your original): Staðfestingin var send í gær. (patient promoted to nominative subject; participle agrees: send)

Any quick pronunciation tips for the sentence?

• Stress is on the first syllable of Staðfestingin: STAÐ-fest-ing-in.
• ð in stað- is the voiced th-sound (as in “this”).
• g in -ingin is pronounced with ng as a cluster [ŋg] before vowels.
• í is long [iː]. Say it smoothly: STAÐ-fes-ting-in var send ee g-eh-r.