Log inSign up

Ef hún fær ekki svar í dag, bankar hún aftur á morgun.

Ef hún fær ekki svar í dag, bankar hún aftur á morgun.
If she doesn’t get an answer today, she will knock again tomorrow.

Breakdown of Ef hún fær ekki svar í dag, bankar hún aftur á morgun.

ekki
not
hún
she
á morgun
tomorrow
aftur
again
svarið
the answer
ef
if
í dag
today
fá
to get
banka
to knock
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Icelandic grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Icelandic now

Questions & Answers about Ef hún fær ekki svar í dag, bankar hún aftur á morgun.

Why is there a comma after dag?

In Icelandic, it’s standard to put a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause when the subordinate clause comes first.
So Ef hún fær ekki svar í dag, (subordinate clause) is followed by a comma before bankar hún aftur á morgun (main clause).

Why does the sentence start with Ef and what does it do grammatically?

Ef is the common word for if and introduces a conditional subordinate clause.
The pattern here is:

  • Ef
    • clause, comma, + main clause

So the first part sets the condition under which the second part happens.

Why is the verb in the main clause bankar hún instead of hún bankar?

Icelandic follows a V2 (verb-second) rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes second.
When something other than the subject comes first (here, the whole Ef-clause), the main clause typically begins with the verb:

  • (Condition first) → bankar (verb) hún (subject)

So bankar hún is the normal word order after a fronted clause.

Why is ekki placed before svar?

Ekki (not) usually comes right after the finite verb (or after the subject+finite verb combination), and before objects and many adverbs.
Here:

  • fær ekki svar = gets not an answer

That placement is very typical in Icelandic.

Why are both verbs in the present tense (fær, bankar) even though it refers to today/tomorrow?

Icelandic commonly uses the present tense to talk about future time when a time expression makes it clear (like í dag, á morgun).
So bankar hún ... á morgun is understood as she will knock ... tomorrow without needing a special future tense.

What case is svar in, and how can I tell?

Svar is the object of fá (to get/receive), and fá normally takes an accusative object.
In this particular word (svar, neuter singular), the nominative and accusative forms look the same, so you don’t “see” the case from the ending—but the verb’s usual case pattern tells you it’s accusative.

Why does Icelandic repeat hún (she) in both clauses? Could it be omitted?

In Icelandic you normally include the subject in each clause:

  • Ef hún ... , bankar hún ...

You generally can’t omit the subject the way some languages do, because Icelandic isn’t a pro-drop language in the everyday sense. Leaving out hún would sound incomplete or would require a different structure.

What does aftur mean here, and where can it go in the sentence?

Aftur means again here. Its placement is flexible, but common spots are:

  • bankar hún aftur á morgun (very natural)
  • bankar hún á morgun aftur (also possible; can feel slightly more emphatic on the time phrase depending on context)

In this sentence, placing aftur before á morgun is a neutral, typical choice.

Why is it í dag but á morgun? Why different prepositions for “today” and “tomorrow”?

This is idiomatic Icelandic usage:

  • í dag = today (literally “in day”)
  • á morgun = tomorrow (literally “on morning/tomorrow”)

You mainly learn these as fixed expressions. (Similarly: í gær = yesterday, í kvöld = tonight.)

How do I conjugate the verbs fá and banka from the forms used here?

The sentence uses 3rd person singular present:

  • að fá → hún fær (she gets)
  • að banka → hún bankar (she knocks)

Helpful present-tense pattern reminders:

  • fá is irregular: ég fæ, þú færð, hann/hún/það fær
  • banka is regular: ég banka, þú bankar, hann/hún/það bankar