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Hún hefði átt að senda drögin fyrr, því fjarfundurinn byrjaði áður en allir höfðu lesið þau.

Hún hefði átt að senda drögin fyrr, því fjarfundurinn byrjaði áður en allir höfðu lesið þau.
She should have sent the draft earlier, because the video meeting started before everyone had read it.
FromLesson 55inHardcore Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Hún hefði átt að senda drögin fyrr, því fjarfundurinn byrjaði áður en allir höfðu lesið þau.

Why does hún hefði átt að senda mean she should have sent?

This is a very common Icelandic way to express an unrealized obligation or expectation in the past.

  • hefði = conditional form of hafa
  • átt = past participle of eiga
  • að senda = to send

So hún hefði átt að senda literally works like she would have owned/been supposed to send, but in natural English it means she should have sent.

This structure is used when something was expected to happen, but apparently did not happen.

Compare:

  • Hún á að senda drögin. = She is supposed to send the draft.
  • Hún átti að senda drögin. = She was supposed to send the draft.
  • Hún hefði átt að senda drögin. = She should have sent the draft.

The last one strongly suggests that she did not send them when she should have.

Why is it átt and not átti here?

Because this sentence uses a compound verb structure with hefði, and that requires the past participle, not the simple past.

  • átti = simple past of eiga
  • átt = past participle of eiga

So:

  • Hún átti að senda drögin. = She was supposed to send the draft.
  • Hún hefði átt að senda drögin. = She should have sent the draft.

Think of it a bit like English:

  • she was supposed to send
  • she should have sent

Once you use hefði, you need the participle átt.

What exactly does að do in átt að senda?

Here að is the infinitive marker, like English to in to send.

So:

  • senda = send
  • að senda = to send

In the expression eiga að + infinitive, Icelandic forms a very common pattern meaning be supposed to, ought to, or should depending on context.

Examples:

  • Ég á að fara. = I am supposed to go.
  • Við áttum að hringja. = We were supposed to call.
  • Þú hefðir átt að bíða. = You should have waited.
Why is drögin plural, even though English might say the draft?

Because Icelandic drög is often a plural-form noun when referring to a draft document or preliminary version of something.

So:

  • drög = draft / draft materials / preliminary version
  • drögin = the draft

Even though it is grammatically plural, English may translate it as singular if that sounds more natural.

This is one of those places where Icelandic grammar and English meaning do not line up perfectly.

Also:

  • drög is neuter plural
  • drögin is the definite form, the draft

That is why the later pronoun is þau, the neuter plural pronoun.

Why is the pronoun þau used for drögin?

Because þau matches the grammatical gender and number of drögin.

  • drögin is neuter plural
  • the matching pronoun is þau

So:

  • allir höfðu lesið þau = everyone had read them

Even if English might say it for the draft, Icelandic still uses the plural pronoun because the noun itself is grammatically plural.

This is an important point: Icelandic pronouns usually agree with the grammatical form of the noun, not necessarily with the way English would think of the object.

Why is it fyrr and not some longer phrase for earlier?

Fyrr is simply the comparative adverb meaning earlier.

  • snemma = early
  • fyrr = earlier

So:

  • að senda drögin fyrr = to send the draft earlier

It works very much like English earlier used adverbially.

You do not need an explicit comparison like than before. The sentence just means that the sending should have happened at an earlier time than it actually did.

What does því mean here? I thought it could mean it or that.

In this sentence, því means because.

So:

  • ..., því fjarfundurinn byrjaði ... = ..., because the remote meeting started ...

This use of því is common in written Icelandic and often introduces a reason.

Learners often confuse it because því can also appear in other roles, for example as a dative pronoun form. But here it is a conjunction meaning for/because.

You can think of it as similar to somewhat formal English for, as in:

  • She should have sent the draft earlier, for the remote meeting started before everyone had read it.

In everyday English, because is the most natural translation.

What is fjarfundurinn made of?

It is a compound noun:

  • fjar- = remote, distance
  • fundur = meeting
  • fjarfundur = remote meeting / online meeting
  • fjarfundurinn = the remote meeting

The ending -inn is the definite article attached to the noun, which is very typical in Icelandic.

So instead of a separate word for the, Icelandic often adds it to the end of the noun:

  • fundur = meeting
  • fundurinn = the meeting
Why is it allir höfðu lesið þau and not something with singular everyone has?

Because allir is the plural form meaning all, and here it is being used in the sense of everyone.

So literally it is closer to:

  • allir höfðu lesið þau = all had read them

But in natural English we usually say:

  • everyone had read them

Even though English everyone is grammatically singular, Icelandic often expresses this idea with a plural form like allir.

So the Icelandic grammar is plural, while the natural English translation may be singular in form.

Why is it höfðu lesið instead of just lásu or las?

Because höfðu lesið is the past perfect, and it shows that the reading happened before another past event.

In the sentence:

  • fjarfundurinn byrjaði = the remote meeting started
  • allir höfðu lesið þau = everyone had read them

The reading is earlier than the starting of the meeting, so Icelandic uses the past perfect.

That is exactly like English:

  • The meeting started before everyone had read them.

If you used only the simple past, the sequence of events would be less clear.

Structure:

  • höfðu = had
  • lesið = read
Why is the verb order áður en allir höfðu lesið þau and not with the verb earlier in the clause?

Because after áður en introducing a subordinate clause, Icelandic does not use the main-clause V2 word order in the same way.

Main clause:

  • Fjarfundurinn byrjaði. = The remote meeting started.

Subordinate clause:

  • áður en allir höfðu lesið þau = before everyone had read them

In the subordinate clause, the subject allir comes before the finite verb höfðu, which is normal.

This is a useful contrast:

  • Main clause: verb often appears in second position
  • Subordinate clause: subject usually comes before the verb in a more straightforward way

So áður en allir höfðu lesið þau is exactly what you would expect.

Is there any special reason for using áður en here?

Yes. Áður en means before when introducing a clause.

  • áður = earlier, before
  • en = than / when introducing this type of comparison clause

Together:

  • áður en allir höfðu lesið þau = before everyone had read them

This is the normal way to say before + clause in Icelandic.

Compare:

  • áður en þú ferð = before you go
  • áður en við byrjuðum = before we started
Could hún átti að senda drögin fyrr also work? What is the difference from hefði átt að senda?

Yes, hún átti að senda drögin fyrr is possible, but the meaning is a bit different.

  • Hún átti að senda drögin fyrr. = She was supposed to send the draft earlier.
  • Hún hefði átt að senda drögin fyrr. = She should have sent the draft earlier.

The version with átti að states the obligation or expectation in the past.

The version with hefði átt að adds hindsight or judgment: it sounds more clearly like the speaker is saying that she failed to do what would have been the right thing.

So hefði átt að is stronger if you want the sense of should have.

Why does lesið not change form for plural, gender, or the object?

Because in this perfect-style construction, lesið is the past participle, and with hafa it often appears in a fixed neuter singular form.

So:

  • ég hef lesið
  • við höfum lesið
  • hann hafði lesið
  • allir höfðu lesið þau

The participle does not agree with the subject here the way an adjective would.

This is different from some other constructions in Icelandic where participles can show agreement, but with hafa + past participle, learners will very often see this stable participle form.

Is the whole sentence especially formal, or is it normal Icelandic?

It is normal, natural Icelandic, though slightly on the careful/written side because of því for because.

Nothing in it is unnatural or overly literary. A speaker could absolutely say this.

If you wanted a more conversational version, you might sometimes hear af því að instead of því:

  • Hún hefði átt að senda drögin fyrr, af því að fjarfundurinn byrjaði áður en allir höfðu lesið þau.

That said, the original sentence is perfectly standard and idiomatic.

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