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Þegar ég er þreytt set ég annaðhvort diskana í uppþvottavélina eða skil þá eftir til morguns.

Þegar ég er þreytt set ég annaðhvort diskana í uppþvottavélina eða skil þá eftir til morguns.
When I am tired, I either put the dishes in the dishwasher or leave them until morning.
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Questions & Answers about Þegar ég er þreytt set ég annaðhvort diskana í uppþvottavélina eða skil þá eftir til morguns.

Why does the sentence start with Þegar, and what does that do to the word order?

Þegar introduces a subordinate time clause (Þegar ég er þreytt = When I’m tired). When that subordinate clause comes first, Icelandic uses verb-second (V2) in the following main clause: the finite verb of the main clause comes immediately after the first element.

  • Þegar ég er þreytt | set ég … So you get set ég (verb + subject), not ég set.
Why is it ég er þreytt (present tense) and not something like a special “when” form?
Icelandic simply uses normal tense here. er is the present tense of að vera (to be), and þreytt is an adjective (tired). There’s no special “when”-tense; the time relationship comes from Þegar and context.
What case is þreytt in, and why?
þreytt agrees with the subject ég and is in the nominative (because it’s a predicate adjective with að vera). With ég (1st person singular), the adjective appears in a basic form: ég er þreytt.
Why is it set ég and not ég set in the main clause?

Because the main clause is in V2 order. The initial subordinate clause (Þegar…) counts as the first “slot,” so the finite verb of the main clause (set) must come next:

  • Þegar… (slot 1) + set (slot 2) + ég (later)
What does annaðhvort … eða mean and how is it used?

annaðhvort … eða is the paired construction either … or.

  • set ég annaðhvort … eða skil … It signals two alternatives. In everyday Icelandic you can sometimes omit annaðhvort, but keeping it is clear and very common.
Why is it diskana and not diskar?

diskana is accusative plural definite (the plates/dishes). It’s the direct object of set (put), and setja typically takes an accusative object:

  • setja
    • accusative object: setja diskana
Why does í take uppþvottavélina (accusative) here?

With í, Icelandic uses:

  • accusative for motion into (direction)
  • dative for location in (being somewhere)

Here it’s motion: set … í uppþvottavélina (put … into the dishwasher), so uppþvottavélina is accusative (and definite singular).

What is uppþvottavélina made of, and why the ending -ina?

It’s a compound:

  • uppþvottur (washing up) + vél (machine) → uppþvottavél (dishwasher)

The ending -ina is feminine singular definite accusative:

  • uppþvottavél (indef.) → uppþvottavélin (def. nom.) → uppþvottavélina (def. acc.)
Why does it say skil þá eftir instead of something like læt þá eftir?

skilja eftir is a very common idiom meaning to leave (something) behind / leave it for later. Here:

  • skil = 1st person singular present of að skilja
  • þá = them
  • eftir completes the meaning (it’s part of the verb phrase)

Other verbs can work in other contexts, but skilja eftir is a standard, natural choice.

What does þá refer to, and why is it þá specifically?
þá is the accusative plural form of þeir/þær/þau (they), used here as them referring back to diskana. Since diskar is masculine plural, the matching object pronoun is þá.
What does til morguns mean grammatically, and why is it morguns?

til governs the genitive. morguns is the genitive singular of morgunn (morning). So til morguns literally means to (the) morning, idiomatically until morning / till morning / until tomorrow morning (depending on context).

Are there any pronunciation traps in this sentence?

Common ones:

  • Þegar: þ is like English th in think.
  • þreytt: the ey is like ay (roughly), and tt is a voiceless t sound (often with a slight pre-aspiration in Icelandic).
  • uppþvottavélina: watch the consonant cluster ppþv (clear p sounds + þ).
  • morguns: the -ns ending can sound tight/compact; don’t add an extra vowel.