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

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).

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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.

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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.

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Why is ekki placed before svar?