Ég verð fegin þegar ég er komin heim og þessi vika er búin.

Breakdown of Ég verð fegin þegar ég er komin heim og þessi vika er búin.

ég
I
vera
to be
þessi
this
þegar
when
heim
home
og
and
verða
to become
vikan
the week
búinn
over
kominn
arrived
feginn
glad

Questions & Answers about Ég verð fegin þegar ég er komin heim og þessi vika er búin.

Why is it fegin and not feginn?

Because fegin is the feminine singular form.

The sentence tells you that the speaker is female:

  • Ég verð fegin = I will be glad / relieved, said by a woman
  • A man would say Ég verð feginn

This kind of agreement is very common in Icelandic. Adjectives and participle-like forms often agree with the person or noun they describe in gender, number, and case.


What does verð mean here?

Verð is the 1st person singular present of verða, which often means become.

So:

  • Ég verð fegin literally means I become glad
  • In natural English, that is usually I’ll be glad or I’ll be relieved

Even though the verb is formally present tense, this sentence has a future meaning because it is talking about how the speaker will feel once certain things have happened.


Why does þegar mean when here? I thought þegar could mean already.

Yes, þegar can mean two different things:

  • þegar = when as a conjunction
  • þegar = already as an adverb

In this sentence, it is clearly the conjunction when, because it introduces a clause:

  • þegar ég er komin heim ... = when I have gotten home ...

So here þegar is not already.


Why are er komin and er búin in the present tense if the meaning is future?

This is very normal in Icelandic.

After time words like þegar = when, Icelandic often uses present tense forms to talk about the future, especially when English would say something like:

  • when I get home
  • when the week is over

So:

  • þegar ég er komin heim = when I have gotten home / when I’m home
  • þegar þessi vika er búin = when this week is over

The main clause carries the future feeling:

  • Ég verð fegin ... = I’ll be glad ...

This is similar to English, which also says when I get home, not when I will get home.


What exactly does ég er komin heim mean?

It is a very common Icelandic way to express having arrived somewhere, especially with verbs of motion.

  • koma = come
  • ég er komin heim literally looks like I am come home
  • natural English: I’ve gotten home, I’ve arrived home, or simply I’m home now

The important idea is completed movement with a resulting state:

  • the speaker has arrived
  • and is now at home

The form komin agrees with the female speaker. A male speaker would say kominn.


Why is it heim and not heima?

Because Icelandic makes an important distinction:

  • heim = homeward / to home, showing movement toward home
  • heima = at home, showing location

Since the sentence is about getting home, Icelandic uses heim:

  • ég er komin heim = I have gotten home

If you were just describing location, you would use heima:

  • Ég er heima = I am at home

This is a very important pair to learn.


What does búin mean in þessi vika er búin?

Here búin means finished, over, or done.

So:

  • þessi vika er búin = this week is over / this week is finished

The word agrees with vika, which is a feminine singular noun, so the form is búin.

Compare:

  • dagurinn er búinn = the day is over
  • árið er búið = the year is over
  • vikan er búin = the week is over

So the form changes depending on the noun it describes.


Is this the same búin as in búin að + infinitive?

It is closely related, but the construction is different.

You may have seen:

  • Ég er búin að lesa bókina = I have finished reading the book

That pattern is:

  • vera búinn/búin/búið að + infinitive

But in your sentence, there is no infinitive after it:

  • þessi vika er búin

Here it simply means is over / is finished.

So the same word family is involved, but the grammar is not exactly the same.


Why is it þessi vika and not some other case like þessa viku?

Because þessi vika is the subject of the clause:

  • þessi vika er búin = this week is over

Subjects are normally in the nominative case, so you get:

  • þessi = nominative feminine singular
  • vika = nominative feminine singular

If it were an object, you might see a different case, such as þessa viku.


Does og þessi vika er búin still belong to the þegar clause?

Yes.

The structure is:

  • Ég verð fegin = main clause
  • þegar ég er komin heim og þessi vika er búin = time clause

So the meaning is:

  • I’ll be glad when both of these are true:
    1. I have gotten home
    2. this week is over

You can think of it as shorthand for:

  • þegar ég er komin heim og þegar þessi vika er búin

The second þegar is simply left out because it is understood.


If a man said this sentence, what would change?

Only the parts that refer to the speaker would change.

A man would say:

Ég verð feginn þegar ég er kominn heim og þessi vika er búin.

Changes:

  • feginfeginn
  • kominkominn

But búin does not change, because it describes vika, and vika is still feminine.

So the agreement works like this:

  • words about I change with the speaker’s gender
  • words about week change with the noun vika
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
What's the best way to learn Icelandic grammar?
Icelandic grammar becomes intuitive with practice. Focus on understanding the core patterns first — how sentences are structured, how verbs change form, and how words relate to each other. Our course breaks these concepts into small lessons so you can build understanding step by step.

Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor

Start learning Icelandic

Master Icelandic — from Ég verð fegin þegar ég er komin heim og þessi vika er búin to fluency

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.

  • Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
  • Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
  • Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
  • AI tutor to answer your grammar questions