Ég athuga veðurspána áður en ég fer út.

I check the weather forecast before I go out.

Breakdown of Ég athuga veðurspána áður en ég fer út.

• ég: I
• fara: to go
• áður en: before
• út: out
• athuga: to check
• veðurspáin: the forecast

Questions & Answers about Ég athuga veðurspána áður en ég fer út.

Why is veðurspána ending in -na?

Because veðurspá (weather forecast) is a feminine noun, and here it’s definite (the forecast) and in the accusative singular.

• Indefinite nominative: veðurspá
• Definite nominative: veðurspáin
• Definite accusative: veðurspána
  The ending -na is the feminine accusative singular definite ending.

Why is veðurspána in the accusative case at all?

Because athuga (to check) is a transitive verb and takes a direct object, which in Icelandic is very often in the accusative. So athuga + accusative object is the normal pattern:
Ég athuga (eitthvað) → Ég athuga veðurspána.

How do I know athuga means “check” and not “investigate” or “examine”?

Athuga covers a range like check / look up / take a look at / verify, depending on context. With something like veðurspá it very naturally means check the forecast (similar to “check the weather app/forecast” in English). Other common options exist (e.g., skoða), but athuga is very idiomatic here.

What tense is athuga and fer, and why is present tense used?

Both are present tense:

• (að) athuga → ég athuga
• (að) fara → ég fer

Icelandic present tense commonly covers:

• habitual actions (something you generally do), and
• near-future / planned actions in context.

So present tense is perfectly normal even if English might sometimes prefer “I’m going to go out.”

Why is ég repeated: Ég ... áður en ég ...?

Because Icelandic typically states the subject explicitly in each clause. The sentence has: 1) Main clause: Ég athuga veðurspána
2) Subordinate clause: áður en ég fer út

Unlike English, Icelandic doesn’t usually “drop” the second subject in this kind of structure. You can omit it in some contexts, but repeating it is the standard, clear choice.

How does áður en work грамmatically, and what comes after it?

Áður en means before and introduces a subordinate clause (a full clause with its own subject + verb). After áður en, Icelandic uses normal subordinate-clause word order:

• áður en ég fer út (subject ég before verb fer)

So you don’t invert word order the way you would in many main-clause questions or after some fronting.

Do I ever use the subjunctive after áður en?

Sometimes, yes—especially if the action in the subordinate clause is uncertain, hypothetical, or not yet realized from the speaker’s perspective. But modern Icelandic very often uses the indicative as well, and áður en ég fer út with fer (indicative) is completely natural and common.

Why is it fer út and not something like fer út with a preposition?

Út here is not a preposition phrase; it’s an adverb/particle meaning out (outside/outwards). Icelandic often forms these verb + particle combinations:

• fara út = go out
• koma inn = come in
• fara heim = go home

So út functions more like an English particle in “go out,” not like “to out.”

Where is the stress in the words, and how are they roughly pronounced?

Icelandic stress is almost always on the first syllable of a word:

• Ég (like “yeh” with a clear g)
• ATHuga (stress on ATH-)
• VEðurspána (stress on VE-)

A rough, learner-friendly approximation:

• athuga ≈ AH-thu-ga (with th like in thing)
• veður has ð, which is often like the th in this
• spá has a long á (roughly “ow” as in “cow” in many accents)

Could the sentence be reordered, and what changes if I move things around?

You can move parts for emphasis, but Icelandic word order has rules. The given version is the most neutral. For example, you can front the time clause for emphasis:

• Áður en ég fer út, athuga ég veðurspána.

Notice that when you start with the subordinate clause, the main clause typically keeps verb-second (V2) order, so you get athuga ég (verb before subject) in the main clause.