Recent Actions: "Vera nýbúinn að"
To express that you have just finished doing something, Icelandic uses a highly common phrase: the conjugated verb vera (to be) + nýbúinn + að + the infinitive form of the main verb.
The word nýbúinn translates roughly to "newly finished." Because it functions as an adjective, its ending changes to match the gender and number of the subject (for example, using nýbúinn for masculine singular subjects). Let's see this in action to describe completing an errand (erindið).
| I just finished the errand. | Ég er nýbúinn að klára erindið. |
You can use this exact same construction to talk about freshly completed arrivals, such as a delivery person (sendillinn) showing up in the waiting room (biðstofan).
| The delivery person just arrived in the waiting room. | Sendillinn er nýbúinn að koma í biðstofuna. |
Everyday Errands
This grammatical structure is incredibly useful when talking about daily chores, services, and transactions. You might use it to say someone was just served (afgreiða) at the counter (afgreiðsluborðið), a doctor just wrote a prescription (lyfseðillinn), or someone just used the ATM (hraðbankinn).
| I just served him at the counter. | Ég er nýbúinn að afgreiða hann við afgreiðsluborðið. |
| The doctor just finished writing the prescription. | Læknirinn er nýbúinn að skrifa lyfseðilinn. |
| He has just used the ATM. | Hann er nýbúinn að nota hraðbankann. |