Ég kem strax aftur.

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Breakdown of Ég kem strax aftur.

• koma: to come
• strax aftur: right back

Questions & Answers about Ég kem strax aftur.

Why is it kem and not koma?

Koma is the dictionary form, meaning to come.
Kem is the 1st person singular present tense form, so it means I come / I’m coming.

A quick breakdown:

• ég kem = I come / I’m coming
• þú kemur = you come / you’re coming
• hann/hún/það kemur = he/she/it comes

So after ég, you use kem, not koma.

Is this sentence really in the present tense even though it refers to the future?

Yes. Icelandic often uses the present tense for something that is about to happen, especially with words like strax (right away / soon / immediately).

So Ég kem strax aftur is literally present tense, but in natural English it is often understood as something like I’ll be right back.

This is very normal in Icelandic.

What exactly does aftur mean here?

Aftur can mean both again and back, depending on context.

In this sentence, with the verb koma (to come), it means back:

• koma aftur = come back

In other sentences, it can mean again:

• Segðu það aftur = Say that again

So here the context tells you that aftur means back, not again.