Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar.

She needs calm before the exam starts.

Breakdown of Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar.

• hún: she
• byrja: to start
• áður en: before
• þurfa: to need
• prófið: the exam
• ró: the calm

Questions & Answers about Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar.

What does each word in Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar correspond to in English?

Word by word:

• Hún – she
• þarf – needs (3rd person singular of að þurfa, “to need”)
• ró – calm, peace, quiet, rest (a noun)
• áður en – before (used before a clause)
• prófið – the exam/test (próf = exam, -ið = the)
• byrjar – starts/begins (3rd person singular of að byrja, “to start”)

So structurally it’s like: She needs calm before the exam starts.

Why is it þarf and not something like þarfar?

Að þurfa (“to need”) is irregular. Present tense:

• ég þarf – I need
• þú þarft – you (sing.) need
• hann / hún / það þarf – he / she / it needs
• við þurfum – we need
• þið þurfið – you (pl.) need
• þeir / þær / þau þurfa – they need

So with hún (“she”), the correct form is þarf.

Why is there no að after þarf here? I often see þarf að + verb.

There are two common patterns with þurfa:

1. þurfa + noun phrase

   • Hún þarf ró. – She needs calm/peace.
     Here ró is a noun, the direct object of þarf, so no að is needed.

2. þurfa + að + infinitive

   • Hún þarf að hvíla sig. – She needs to rest.
     Here að hvíla is a verb phrase (“to rest”), so you use að.

In your sentence, we’re not saying “she needs to do something,” but “she needs calm,” so it’s the noun-pattern, without að.

What exactly is ró here? Is it a verb meaning “to row” or “to calm”?

In this sentence ró is a noun, not a verb. It means:

• ró (f.) – calm, peace, quiet, tranquility, rest.

The verb að róa can mean “to row” or (in expressions like róa sig) “to calm (oneself)”, but that is a different word class and form.

So:

• Hún þarf ró. – She needs calm / peace / quiet. (noun)
• Hún þarf að róa sig. – She needs to calm down. (verb phrase)

Why doesn’t ró have any ending or an article? Why not róna or róina or something like that?

A few points:

1. Abstract mass noun
   Ró is an abstract, mass-like noun (“calmness”), so it’s typically used without a definite article when you mean calm in general:

   • Hún þarf ró. – She needs (some) calm/peace.

2. Case and form
   Ró is feminine. Singular indefinite:

   • Nominative: ró
   • Accusative: ró
   • Dative: ró
   • Genitive: róar

   Here it’s the object of þarf, so it’s in the accusative, but nominative and accusative have the same form ró, so you don’t see a change.

3. Definite form is possible if context demands it:

   • Hún þarf róna / róina is incorrect; the correct definite form is róna doesn’t exist; it should be róna? No:
   • Indefinite: ró
   • Definite: róin (nom.) / róna (acc.) in theory, but in practice you’ll most often see the genitive definite róarinnar:
     
     • Hún sækist eftir ró og friði. – She seeks peace and quiet.
     • Ég naut róarinnar. – I enjoyed the peace.

   In everyday speech for this meaning, Icelanders usually just say ró without any article.

Could I say Hún þarf róa to mean “She needs to calm down”?

No. Two problems:

1. You can’t use the infinitive without “að” here (as a learner).
   With a verb meaning “to calm down,” you need að:

   • Hún þarf að róa sig. – She needs to calm down.

2. You need the reflexive pronoun with this meaning.

   • að róa sig literally: “to row/calm oneself” → idiomatically “calm down”. Without sig, að róa is just “to row (a boat)” in most contexts.

So the natural way to say “She needs to calm down” is:

• Hún þarf að róa sig.

What does áður en mean exactly, and how is it different from just áður?

• áður by itself is an adverb meaning “before, earlier”:

  • Ég borðaði áður. – I ate earlier / before.

• áður en is a conjunction introducing a clause, meaning “before (something happens)”:

  • Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar.
    She needs calm before the exam starts.

So:

• áður + noun phrase → not normal; instead you use fyrir:

  • fyrir prófið – before the exam (in time)

• áður en + clause → before + sentence:

  • áður en prófið byrjar – before the exam starts

Is the en in áður en the same word as en meaning “but”?

Yes, it is historically the same word, but in modern Icelandic you just learn two main usages:

1. en as “but”:

   • Hún er þreytt, en hún vinnur samt.
     She is tired, but she is still working.

2. áður en as a fixed combination meaning “before” (when followed by a clause):

   • áður en prófið byrjar – before the exam starts.

You normally don’t use en by itself to mean “before”; it occurs in the fixed phrase áður en.

Why does prófið have -ið at the end? What form is that?

Prófið is próf + the definite article:

• próf – an exam / exam (neuter, singular, indefinite)
• prófið – the exam (neuter, singular, definite)

In Icelandic, the definite article (“the”) is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• borð – a table → borðið – the table
• hús – a house → húsið – the house
• próf – an exam → prófið – the exam

In your sentence, we’re talking about some specific exam the speaker and listener know about, so Icelandic uses the definite form prófið.

What case is prófið in, and why does it look the same in nominative and accusative?

Próf is a neuter noun. For neuter nouns in the singular, nominative and accusative are identical, both in the indefinite and definite forms:

• Nom.sg.: próf / prófið
• Acc.sg.: próf / prófið

In the sentence:

• prófið byrjar – the exam starts

Prófið is the subject of byrjar, so it’s in the nominative. It just happens that the nominative and accusative look the same, so you can’t see the case from the form alone; you know it’s nominative because of its function as the subject.

Why is the word order áður en prófið byrjar, not something like “áður en byrjar prófið”?

In Icelandic:

• Main clauses often have the verb in second position (V2):

  • Prófið byrjar fljótlega. – The exam starts soon.

• In subordinate clauses (introduced by conjunctions like að, þegar, ef, áður en…), the word order is usually Subject – Verb – Object (no V2 rule):

  • Ég veit að prófið byrjar fljótlega.
    I know that the exam starts soon.
  • áður en prófið byrjar
    before the exam starts

So “áður en prófið byrjar” is the normal subordinate-clause order: subject (prófið) + verb (byrjar).

Can I move the áður en-clause to the front of the sentence?

Yes. Both are correct and natural:

• Hún þarf ró áður en prófið byrjar.
• Áður en prófið byrjar, þarf hún ró.

When the áður en-clause comes first, you usually put a comma after it in writing. The meaning doesn’t change; it’s just a different focus / rhythm.

How do you pronounce the tricky parts of this sentence, especially Hún, áður, and prófið?

Approximate English-based guide (not IPA-precise, but helpful):

• Hún – roughly like “hoon”

  • ú is like a long “oo” in food.
  • Final n is clear.

• þarf – roughly “tharf”

  • þ is a voiceless “th” as in think.
  • a is like “a” in father (shorter).
  • rf is pronounced with a kind of devoiced “rv/f” sound, but “tharf” is a decent approximation.

• ró – like English “row” (the thing you do with oars), but a bit tenser and longer.

• áður – roughly “ow-thur”

  • á is like “ow” in now, but longer.
  • ð is a soft “th” as in this (voiced).
  • Final ur is like a short “ur” with a rolled/trilled r; it’s very short and unstressed.

• prófið – roughly “PROH-vee-th”

  • pr: like “pr” in English prize.
  • ó: a long “oh” sound.
  • í: like “ee” in see.
  • ð at the end is often very soft, almost like a light voiced “th,” and many learners effectively just soften it or barely pronounce it.

A careful but natural Icelandic reading of the whole sentence would sound something like:
[Hoon tharv roh ow-thur en PROH-vee-th bir-yar] (very rough guide).