Hún hefur verið að lesa umsagnir um fyrirtækið í allan dag.

It is the Icelandic way of expressing something like has been reading.

The pattern is:

• hefur = has
• verið = past participle of vera, to be
• að lesa = reading / to read

So Hún hefur verið að lesa means She has been reading.

This construction is often used when you want to emphasize that an activity has been going on for some time, especially up to the present moment.

Here að is part of the construction vera að + infinitive, which is commonly used to express an ongoing action.

So:

• vera að lesa = to be reading
• hefur verið að lesa = has been reading

This að is not something you should translate word-for-word every time. It is just part of the grammar of this progressive-style expression.

Yes. Icelandic does not use progressive forms as constantly as English does.

For example, depending on context, Icelandic can often use a simple tense where English would use is reading or was reading.

But in this sentence, hefur verið að lesa is useful because it highlights duration and ongoing activity. With í allan dag, it strongly suggests that she has spent the whole day doing this.

So the progressive-style form is natural here because it matches the idea of all day very well.

You could say that, but the nuance is a little different.

• hefur lesið = has read
  • often more neutral
  • can focus more on the fact or result
• hefur verið að lesa = has been reading
  • focuses more on the ongoing process
  • makes the activity feel continuous or prolonged

So in this sentence, hefur verið að lesa sounds closer to English has been reading reviews about the company all day.

Because umsagnir is the plural form of umsögn, meaning review or commentary.

Here it is the direct object of lesa, so it appears in the accusative plural. For this noun, the accusative plural looks like umsagnir.

So:

• umsögn = review
• umsagnir = reviews

The sentence is talking about more than one review, so the plural is needed.

Because um here means about / concerning, and this preposition takes the accusative case.

So:

• fyrirtæki = company
• fyrirtækið = the company

The -ið at the end is the suffixed definite article, which is how Icelandic usually says the.

So um fyrirtækið means about the company.

It means all day or for the whole day.

The adjective allur must agree with dagur in case, number, and gender. After í in this kind of duration expression, Icelandic uses the accusative.

So:

• dagur = day
• accusative singular = dag
• allur dagur becomes allan dag in the accusative masculine singular

That is why the phrase is í allan dag.

Usually, yes, or at least it strongly suggests that the activity has continued up to now.

Because the sentence uses hefur verið að lesa, it has the same kind of feel as English has been reading all day. That normally implies that the action is still happening now, or has only just stopped.

So the sentence presents the reading as a continuing activity connected to the present.

Because in this perfect construction with hafa, the participle does not agree with the subject in gender or number the way an adjective would.

So even though the subject is hún, you still say:

• Ég hef verið
• Hún hefur verið
• Við höfum verið

The form verið stays the same here.

Yes. Icelandic word order is fairly flexible, although there is still a normal neutral order.

The sentence as given is perfectly natural:

• Hún hefur verið að lesa umsagnir um fyrirtækið í allan dag.

But you could also move the time phrase for emphasis:

• Í allan dag hefur hún verið að lesa umsagnir um fyrirtækið.

Notice that when something comes first in a main clause, the finite verb still stays in second position. That is a very important Icelandic word-order rule.