Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn.

She has finished cooking the dinner.

Breakdown of Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn.

• vera: to be
• hún: she
• elda: to cook
• kvöldmaturinn: the dinner
• búinn: finished

Questions & Answers about Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn.

What does búin mean here, and why isn’t it just a normal verb form like eldaði (“cooked”)?

Búin is originally the past participle (or an adjectival form) of the verb búa in the sense “to prepare / to finish”.

In the pattern vera búinn/búin/búið að + infinitive, it functions more like an adjective meaning “finished / done”.

So Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn is literally something like:

• She is finished with cooking the dinner.

This is different from simply saying Hún eldaði kvöldmatinn (“She cooked the dinner”) or Hún hefur eldað kvöldmatinn (“She has cooked the dinner”), because er búin að emphasizes the completion of the activity and the resulting state (she is now done with that task).

Why is it búin and not búinn, búið, or something else?

Búin agrees in gender, number, and case with the subject Hún (“she”).

• Hún = feminine singular nominative
• The adjective/participle must match: búin (feminine, singular, nominative, strong declension)

Compare:

• Hann er búinn að elda kvöldmatinn.
  He is done cooking the dinner. (masculine: búinn)
• Það er búið að elda kvöldmatinn.
  It is done, the dinner has been cooked. (neuter: búið)
• Þau eru búin að elda kvöldmatinn.
  They (mixed / neuter group) are done cooking the dinner. (neuter plural, but the form in this construction is búin)

So the form of búinn/búin/búið always reflects the subject.

What is the function of að in að elda?

Here að introduces the infinitive verb elda (“to cook”).

The construction is:

• vera búinn/búin/búið að + infinitive

So:

• er búin að elda = is finished (with) cooking

You cannot omit að here.
✗ Hún er búin elda kvöldmatinn is ungrammatical. It must be búin að elda.

Why is kvöldmatinn in this form and not just kvöldmatur?

The base noun is kvöldmatur (“dinner, evening meal”).

In kvöldmatinn, two things are happening:

1. Accusative case:

   • Elda is a transitive verb and takes its object in the accusative.
   • The accusative singular of kvöldmatur is kvöldmat (stem change and case ending).

2. Definite article -inn:

   • Icelandic usually attaches the definite article as a suffix.
   • kvöldmat
     • -inn → kvöldmatinn = “the dinner”.

So elda kvöldmatinn literally is “cook the dinner”, with kvöldmatinn = definite accusative.

Could I say Hún hefur eldað kvöldmatinn instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, Hún hefur eldað kvöldmatinn is grammatical and means “She has cooked the dinner.”

The nuance, very roughly:

• Hún hefur eldað kvöldmatinn.
  Present perfect; focuses on the fact that at some point before now, she cooked the dinner. Context may or may not emphasize that the task is just now completed.

• Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn.
  Focuses on the current state of completion:
  She is done cooking the dinner (now).
  It often implies that the task has just now been completed or that this is relevant at this moment.

In everyday spoken Icelandic, vera búinn að + infinitive is extremely common when talking about having finished something, often more natural than the present perfect.

Is Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn like “She is cooking dinner” or “She has finished cooking dinner”?

It aligns more with “She has finished cooking dinner” or “She is done cooking the dinner.”

• It does not mean an ongoing action like “She is cooking dinner (right now).”
  For an ongoing present, you’d more typically say something like:
  • Hún er að elda kvöldmatinn.
    She is cooking the dinner.

So:

• er að elda → is in the middle of cooking
• er búin að elda → is finished cooking

Can I leave out the definite article and say Hún er búin að elda kvöldmat?

You can say Hún er búin að elda kvöldmat, and it is grammatical, but there is a nuance:

• kvöldmatinn = “the dinner”, a specific dinner that is known in context (tonight’s dinner).
• kvöldmat (without -inn) = “dinner” in a more general or indefinite sense.

In many everyday contexts, when you mean tonight’s dinner (the one you were planning), Icelanders would naturally say kvöldmatinn with the definite article. Without it, it might sound a bit more generic or less anchored to a specific “the dinner” you had in mind.

Why is the word order Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn and not something else?

Icelandic tends to keep a relatively fixed neutral word order in main clauses:

1. Subject
2. Finite verb
3. Other verb elements / complements
4. Objects and adverbials

So:

• Hún (subject)
• er (finite verb)
• búin (adjectival participle linked to hún via er)
• að elda (infinitive phrase)
• kvöldmatinn (object of elda)

The cluster er búin að elda behaves like the verbal core of the sentence.
Other word orders like ✗ Hún er að elda búin kvöldmatinn or ✗ Hún búin er að elda kvöldmatinn would be incorrect in standard Icelandic.

Is vera búinn að + infinitive only used for cooking or can it be used with other verbs?

It is a very general and extremely common pattern; you can use it with many verbs to express having finished doing something. For example:

• Ég er búinn að lesa bókina.
  I have finished reading the book / I’m done reading the book. (masc. speaker)
• Ég er búin að læra.
  I’ve finished studying. (fem. speaker)
• Við erum búin að horfa á myndina.
  We are done watching the movie.

Just remember to adjust búinn/búin/búið/búnir/búnar/búin to agree with the subject.

How do I pronounce búin in this sentence?

Approximate pronunciation (in a broad, learner-friendly way):

• Hún er búin að elda kvöldmatinn
  → /huːn ɛr ˈpuːɪn a ˈɛlta ˈkvœltˌmatɪn/

Focusing on búin:

• búin ≈ “BOO-in”, but as one word:
  • bú- like English boo (long u)
  • -in like a short, unstressed “in”, gliding from ú to i (a bit like BOO-in said quickly)

Native pronunciation will be smoother, but aiming for BOO-in is a good starting point.