Eftir að pípulagningamaðurinn fer, ætla ég að svara tölvupóstinum og senda ferilskrána.

Icelandic makes compound nouns very freely, so something that feels like two or three words in English is often a single word in Icelandic.

Here, pípulagningamaður is the normal word for plumber. The final part of the compound is the grammatical head, so that is the part that determines how the whole word declines. Then -inn is added as the definite article, giving pípulagningamaðurinn = the plumber.

After time expressions like eftir að = after, Icelandic often uses the present tense for future meaning.

So:

• Eftir að pípulagningamaðurinn fer = After the plumber leaves
• not a literal present-time statement

This is actually similar to English. English also says After the plumber leaves, I’ll..., not After the plumber will leave.

This is because Icelandic main clauses usually follow the V2 pattern, meaning the finite verb comes in the second position.

In this sentence, the whole subordinate clause Eftir að pípulagningamaðurinn fer comes first. That fills the first slot. So the finite verb of the main clause, ætla, has to come next, and the subject ég follows it:

• Eftir að pípulagningamaðurinn fer, ætla ég...

If the sentence started directly with the subject, you would get:

• Ég ætla að svara tölvupóstinum og senda ferilskrána.

Ætla að + infinitive means something like:

• intend to
• plan to
• be going to

So ætla ég að svara... og senda... means the speaker is stating a plan or intention.

It is a very common way to talk about the future in Icelandic, especially when there is a clear intention behind the action.

No. They look the same, but they do different jobs.

• eftir að: here að is part of the conjunction eftir að, meaning after
• ætla að svara: here að is the infinitive marker, like English to in to answer

So the two að words are not the same grammatically, even though they are spelled the same.

Because the verb svara takes a dative object in Icelandic.

So you have to learn svara as a verb that governs dative:

• svara einhverju = answer something

That is why tölvupóstur becomes tölvupóstinum here: it is singular, definite, and dative.

This is one of those places where Icelandic does not match English directly. In English, answer the email just looks like a normal direct object. In Icelandic, the case is determined by the verb.

Because senda takes an accusative direct object, not a dative one.

So:

• svara
  • dative
• senda
  • accusative

That makes ferilskrá become ferilskrána, which is the singular definite accusative form.

So the different endings are not random. They come from the case each verb requires.

Because both infinitives are being controlled by the same verb, ætla.

So Icelandic normally says:

• ætla að svara ... og senda ...

The single að covers both infinitives:

• svara
• senda

Repeating að would usually be unnecessary and heavier in style.

Because Icelandic usually expresses the definite article as a suffix attached to the noun.

So instead of a separate word like English the, Icelandic often adds an ending:

• pípulagningamaðurinn = the plumber
• tölvupóstinum = the email in dative
• ferilskrána = the résumé/CV in accusative

The exact form of that ending changes depending on:

• gender
• number
• case

So the article is attached, but it does not always look the same.