Ég er nýbúin að sjá tunglið út um gluggann.

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Breakdown of Ég er nýbúin að sjá tunglið út um gluggann.

• glugginn: the window
• tunglið: the moon
• út um: out through

Questions & Answers about Ég er nýbúin að sjá tunglið út um gluggann.

What does nýbúin að mean here?

Vera nýbúin/nýbúinn að + infinitive means to have just done something or to be newly finished with doing something.

So:

• Ég er nýbúin að sjá... = I have just seen...

It is a very common Icelandic way to talk about something that happened very recently.

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Why is it nýbúin and not some other form?

Because nýbúinn is an adjective/participle that agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Here the subject is ég (I), and the form nýbúin tells us the speaker is female.

Common forms are:

• ég er nýbúinn að... = a male speaker
• ég er nýbúin að... = a female speaker
• við erum nýbúin að... = plural, mixed/feminine-type form depending on context
• við erum nýbúnir að... = plural masculine/mixed group

So this sentence specifically sounds like it is being said by a woman.

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Why does Icelandic use ég er here instead of something like English I have?