Breakdown of Ef þú ert að fara að elda, þá get ég komið með salt og pipar.
Questions & Answers about Ef þú ert að fara að elda, þá get ég komið með salt og pipar.
Ef means if and introduces a subordinate clause (a conditional clause). It’s very common to separate that Ef ... clause from the main clause with a comma, especially in writing:
- Ef þú ert að fara að elda, (If you’re going to cook,)
- þá get ég komið með salt og pipar. (then I can bring salt and pepper.)
The comma helps signal the boundary between the condition and the result.
This is a very common “near future / about to” construction:
- vera að fara að + infinitive ≈ to be going to / to be about to + verb
So þú ert að fara að elda is literally something like “you are in the process of going to cook,” but idiomatically just you’re going to cook / you’re about to cook.
The two að’s come from two different pieces:
- vera að + [verb phrase] (a common progressive-like frame)
- fara að + infinitive (start to / be about to)
So it’s: ert + að fara + að elda.
It can lean either way depending on context, but commonly:
- ert að fara að elda = you’re about to cook / you’re planning to cook soon
If you wanted to be clearer about “starting right now,” Icelandic often uses:
- þú ert að byrja að elda = you’re starting to cook
- þú ert að elda = you’re cooking (right now / these days, depending on context)
No. þá (then) is optional here.
Both are natural:
- Ef þú ert að fara að elda, get ég komið með salt og pipar.
- Ef þú ert að fara að elda, þá get ég komið með salt og pipar.
Including þá can make the “if … then …” relationship feel a bit more explicit or conversational.
Icelandic is a verb-second (V2) language in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the “second position.”
When þá is placed first in the main clause, the verb comes next:
- þá get ég ... (then can I ...)
Also, when a sentence begins with a subordinate clause (like Ef ...), the main clause often shows inversion too:
- Ef ..., get ég ... (Because the initial Ef-clause takes the first “slot,” the verb comes next.)
So get ég is the expected V2 pattern.
After modal verbs like geta (can), Icelandic often uses a special form that looks like the past participle (sometimes called the supine in descriptions of Icelandic grammar). For koma, that form is komið.
So:
- ég get komið = I can come / I’m able to come
You’ll see the same pattern with many verbs after modals:
- ég get farið = I can go
- ég get tekið = I can take
This is standard modern Icelandic usage.
koma með is an idiomatic phrase meaning to bring (i.e., come while having something with you).
So:
- koma með salt og pipar = bring salt and pepper
Related alternatives you might see:
- taka með = take along (often from the speaker’s perspective: “take with you”)
- fara með = take/bring (depends on context and direction)
The preposition með normally governs the accusative case (in this “with/bringing” sense).
So salt and pipar are functioning as accusative objects of með. They just happen to look the same as their nominative forms:
- salt (neuter) often has the same nominative and accusative singular form
- pipar (masculine) also appears as pipar in accusative singular
With nouns that visibly decline, you would more clearly see the accusative after með.
A common way is to use the conditional form of geta:
- þá gæti ég komið með salt og pipar. = then I could bring salt and pepper.
You can also add politeness markers, but simply switching get → gæti often gives that softer “could” feel.
Modern Icelandic usually uses þú in most situations (even with strangers), much more than many European languages use formal address.
There is a polite/formal system (historically using þér etc.), but it’s relatively uncommon in everyday modern usage. In most real-life contexts, þú is completely normal and not considered rude.