Áður en auðkenningin virkar, þarf hún að staðfesta hver hún er.

Áður en means before in the sense of before something happens.

It is a very common combination in Icelandic:

• áður = earlier, before
• en = than / before, in certain comparisons and time expressions

So:

• Áður en auðkenningin virkar = Before the authentication works

A learner might expect something more like a single word for before, but Icelandic often uses this two-word expression when introducing a clause.

The ending -in is the definite article attached to the noun.

So:

• auðkenning = authentication, identification
• auðkenningin = the authentication, the identification

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun rather than written as a separate word like English the.

Because the sentence is talking about a specific authentication process or identity check, it uses the definite form:

• auðkenningin

Because auðkenning is a feminine noun in Icelandic.

Icelandic nouns have grammatical gender:

• masculine
• feminine
• neuter

Pronouns must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun, even when the thing is not a person.

So since auðkenning(in) is feminine, Icelandic refers back to it with:

• hún = she / it for feminine nouns

In natural English, we would normally say it, but Icelandic grammar uses hún because of the noun’s gender, not because the authentication is literally female.

This is because Icelandic follows a verb-second pattern in main clauses.

The sentence begins with a subordinate clause:

• Áður en auðkenningin virkar

After that opening element, the main clause comes:

• þarf hún að staðfesta hver hún er

In Icelandic main clauses, the finite verb usually comes in the second position. Since the whole Áður en ... clause comes first, the finite verb of the main clause, þarf, comes next.

So the structure is roughly:

1. fronted clause: Áður en auðkenningin virkar
2. finite verb: þarf
3. subject: hún

That is why you get:

• Áður en ..., þarf hún ...

and not:

• Áður en ..., hún þarf ...

Virkar is the present tense form of the verb virka.

• virka = to work, function
• virkar = works / functions

Here it agrees with the subject auðkenningin, which is third person singular:

• auðkenningin virkar = the authentication works / functions

So if you look it up in a dictionary, you would search for virka.

Because þurfa normally takes að + infinitive when it means need to.

So:

• þurfa að gera eitthvað = to need to do something

In this sentence:

• þarf hún að staðfesta = it/she needs to confirm/verify

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic:

• Ég þarf að fara = I need to go
• Við þurfum að bíða = We need to wait

So the að here is not optional; it is part of the normal construction with þurfa.

Staðfesta means to confirm, to verify, or to validate, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means something like verify/confirm.

So að staðfesta hver hún er means:

• to verify who it is
• more literally, to confirm who she/it is

This verb is common in formal, technical, and administrative language.

Because hver hún er is an embedded question (also called an indirect question), not a direct question.

Compare:

• Direct question: Hver er hún? = Who is she/it?
• Embedded question: ... staðfesta hver hún er = ... verify who she/it is

In embedded questions, Icelandic usually uses normal subordinate-clause word order, so the subject comes before the verb:

• hver hún er

This is similar to English:

• direct: Who is she?
• embedded: I know who she is

So Icelandic works the same way here.

Yes, hver literally means who, but in this sentence it refers to identity in a broader sense.

Because the noun being referred to is grammatically feminine and is treated with the pronoun hún, Icelandic uses:

• hver hún er = literally who she is

In natural English, with a non-human thing like a system or authentication process, we might prefer:

• what it is
• which one it is
• its identity

But Icelandic can still use hver in identity-related expressions, especially when the grammar points toward a feminine referent.

So this is one of those places where a very literal English rendering may sound odd, even though the Icelandic grammar is perfectly normal.

Yes. Hver is in the nominative.

That is because it is linked to hún through the verb er (is). In sentences with to be, the complement that identifies the subject is often nominative in Icelandic.

So:

• hún er hver? → hver
• embedded: hver hún er

This is not always the first thing a beginner notices, but it is useful if you are trying to understand why the form is hver and not some other case form.

No, not in normal Icelandic.

In:

• þarf hún að staðfesta hver hún er

the first hún is the subject of þarf:

• hún þarf = she/it needs

the second hún is the subject of er inside the embedded clause:

• hver hún er = who she/it is

Since each verb needs its own subject, both pronouns are needed.

So even though English learners may feel the second hún is repetitive, it is grammatically necessary.

It has two main parts:

1. A time clause:

   • Áður en auðkenningin virkar
   • Before the authentication works

2. A main clause:

   • þarf hún að staðfesta hver hún er
   • it needs to verify who it is

Inside the main clause, there is also an embedded question:

• hver hún er

So the structure is:

• [Time clause] + [main clause with verb-second word order] + [embedded question]

That makes it a good example of several important Icelandic patterns all at once:

• Áður en for time
• definite noun ending -in
• grammatical gender and pronoun agreement
• verb-second word order
• þurfa að + infinitive
• embedded question word order