Ef ökklinn minn verður ekki betri á morgun, fer ég til læknis.

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Breakdown of Ef ökklinn minn verður ekki betri á morgun, fer ég til læknis.

• ekki: not
• fara: to go
• á morgun: tomorrow

Questions & Answers about Ef ökklinn minn verður ekki betri á morgun, fer ég til læknis.

Why is it fer ég instead of ég fer after the comma?

Because Icelandic main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule.

In this sentence, the whole ef-clause comes first:

Ef ökklinn minn verður ekki betri á morgun

That entire clause counts as the first element, so in the main clause the finite verb comes next:

fer ég til læknis

If you started with the main clause instead, you would say:

Ég fer til læknis ef ökklinn minn verður ekki betri á morgun.

So both are correct, but the word order changes because of Icelandic sentence structure.

Why is the order ökklinn minn and not minn ökkli?

In Icelandic, possessives are very often placed after the noun:

• bíllinn minn = my car
• húsið mitt = my house
• ökklinn minn = my ankle

This is especially common with body parts, where Icelandic often uses:

definite noun + possessive

So ökklinn minn is the natural, everyday way to say my ankle here.

Why does ökklinn end in -inn?

The ending -inn is the definite article attached to the noun.