Ef ég sendi bréfið í dag, ætti móttakandinn að fá það fyrir föstudag.

If I send the letter today, the recipient should get it by Friday.

Breakdown of Ef ég sendi bréfið í dag, ætti móttakandinn að fá það fyrir föstudag.

• ég: I
• það: it
• eiga að: should
• bréfið: the letter

Questions & Answers about Ef ég sendi bréfið í dag, ætti móttakandinn að fá það fyrir föstudag.

Why is sendi used instead of senda?

Senda is the infinitive, meaning to send. After ég, Icelandic needs a finite verb form, so you get ég sendi = I send.

A useful extra detail: in the 1st person singular, the present indicative and present subjunctive of many verbs can look the same, so sendi is simply the correct present form here.

Why is it Ef ég sendi... and not Ef sendi ég...?

Because ef introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses normally keep regular subject-verb order in Icelandic:

• Ef ég sendi... = If I send...

The inversion pattern that learners often notice in Icelandic mostly applies to main clauses, not to clauses introduced by ef.

Why is the main clause ætti móttakandinn... instead of móttakandinn ætti...?

This is because Icelandic is a verb-second (V2) language in main clauses.

The whole Ef ég sendi bréfið í dag counts as the first element. Once that first slot is taken, the finite verb of the main clause comes next, so you get:

• Ef ég sendi bréfið í dag, ætti móttakandinn...

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

• Móttakandinn ætti að fá það fyrir föstudag.