Ef tjaldið hefði verið stærra, hefðum við sofið betur um nóttina.

to be

Breakdown of Ef tjaldið hefði verið stærra, hefðum við sofið betur um nóttina.

• við: we
• sofa: to sleep
• hafa: to have

Questions & Answers about Ef tjaldið hefði verið stærra, hefðum við sofið betur um nóttina.

What kind of sentence is Ef tjaldið hefði verið stærra, hefðum við sofið betur um nóttina?

It is a counterfactual conditional: a sentence about something that did not actually happen in the past.

The idea is:

• the tent was not bigger
• because of that, we did not sleep better

So Icelandic is expressing the same kind of idea as English If the tent had been bigger, we would have slept better during the night.

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Why are hefði and hefðum used here?

They are both subjunctive past forms of hafa.

• hefði = singular past subjunctive
• hefðum = plural past subjunctive

In this kind of unreal past conditional, Icelandic commonly uses:

• ef
  • past subjunctive in the if-clause
• past subjunctive in the main clause as well

So:

• Ef tjaldið hefði verið stærra = If the tent had been bigger
• hefðum við sofið betur = we would have slept better

English uses would have, but Icelandic does not need a separate word exactly like would here. The subjunctive does that job.

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What exactly are verið and sofið in this sentence?