Ég var kvíðinn fyrir fundinum og byrjaði að hika þegar kennarinn spurði mig.

In Icelandic, kvíðinn is an adjective, so it has to agree with the subject in gender, number, and case.

• Ég = I
• var = was
• kvíðinn = anxious / nervous (masculine singular nominative)

So this literally works like I was anxious, where anxious is an adjective describing I.

If the speaker were female, you would normally say:

• Ég var kvíðin

So the ending on kvíðinn tells you something about the speaker’s grammatical gender.

Var is the past tense of vera (to be).

Here are the most relevant forms:

• ég er = I am
• ég var = I was

So:

• Ég var kvíðinn = I was anxious

This is because kvíðinn commonly goes with the preposition fyrir to express what someone is anxious about.

So:

• kvíðinn fyrir einhverju = anxious about something

The important thing for learners is that in this meaning, fyrir takes the dative case.

That is why you get:

• fundinum and not fundinn or fundur

So the phrase means:

• kvíðinn fyrir fundinum = anxious about the meeting

Fundinum is the dative singular definite form of fundur (meeting).

Breakdown:

• fundur = a meeting
• fundinn = the meeting (accusative singular)
• fundinum = the meeting (dative singular)

It is dative because of fyrir in this expression, and it is definite because the ending -num includes the suffixed definite article.

So fundinum means the meeting, not just a meeting.

Icelandic usually puts the definite article onto the noun itself instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• kennari = teacher
• kennarinn = the teacher

This is very common in Icelandic. The same thing happens in fundinum, where the definite article is also attached to the noun.

After many verbs in Icelandic, including byrja (to begin/start), the next verb appears in the infinitive, usually with að.

So:

• byrja = to begin
• hika = to hesitate
• byrja að hika = to begin to hesitate

In the past tense:

• byrjaði að hika = began to hesitate

This að is often equivalent to English to before an infinitive.

Hika means to hesitate.

In this sentence, byrjaði að hika suggests that the speaker started to pause, falter, or become unsure in speaking when put on the spot.

So it is not just general nervousness; it describes the moment where the nervousness starts affecting the speaker’s response.

Because þegar introduces a subordinate clause: when the teacher asked me.

In Icelandic, subordinate clauses do not follow the same strict verb-second pattern as main clauses. So the normal order here is:

• þegar kennarinn spurði mig
• when the teacher asked me

That is:

• conjunction: þegar
• subject: kennarinn
• verb: spurði
• object: mig

This is a very normal Icelandic clause order after words like þegar, ef, af því að, and so on.

Mig is the accusative form of ég.

The verb spyrja (to ask) commonly takes the person being asked in the accusative.

So:

• ég = I
• mig = me

Therefore:

• kennarinn spurði mig = the teacher asked me

This is just something to learn with the verb:

• spyrja einhvern = ask someone

Often Icelandic also adds what was asked about:

• spyrja einhvern um eitthvað = ask someone about something

The dictionary form is spyrja (to ask).

Spurði is the past tense form:

• spyr = asks
• spurði = asked

So:

• kennarinn spurði mig = the teacher asked me

A learner may notice that the stem changes from spy- to spur- in the past. That is normal for this verb and just has to be learned.

Yes, fyrir has several meanings depending on context and case. It can mean things like:

• before / in front of
• for
• because of
• and in some expressions, something close to about

In this sentence, the meaning comes from the fixed expression:

• vera kvíðinn fyrir einhverju

That whole phrase means to be anxious about something.

So it is best not to translate fyrir word-for-word here. Learn the whole pattern:

• Ég er kvíðinn fyrir prófinu = I am anxious about the exam
• Hún er kvíðin fyrir ferðinni = She is anxious about the trip

Yes, the adjective would usually change.

Masculine speaker:

• Ég var kvíðinn fyrir fundinum...

Feminine speaker:

• Ég var kvíðin fyrir fundinum...

The rest of the sentence stays the same:

• og byrjaði að hika þegar kennarinn spurði mig

So the main difference is the form of the adjective kvíðinn / kvíðin.

Yes. Og is the normal Icelandic word for and.

It joins the two parts of the sentence:

• Ég var kvíðinn fyrir fundinum
• og byrjaði að hika þegar kennarinn spurði mig

So the speaker is saying two connected things:

1. they were anxious about the meeting
2. they began to hesitate when the teacher asked them

No, that would change the meaning completely.

• hika = hesitate
• hiksta = hiccup

They look a bit similar, but they are unrelated in meaning. In this sentence, hika is the correct verb because the speaker is hesitating, not hiccuping.