Word
Sendillinn er nýbúinn að koma í biðstofuna.
Meaning
The delivery person just arrived in the waiting room.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Sendillinn er nýbúinn að koma í biðstofuna.
vera
to be
koma
to come
að
to (infinitive marker)
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
Questions & Answers about Sendillinn er nýbúinn að koma í biðstofuna.
How does er nýbúinn að koma translate to "just arrived"?
The phrase vera nýbúinn að followed by an infinitive verb is the standard way to express that someone has "just" done something. It literally translates to "to be newly finished to". Here, er nýbúinn að koma means the delivery person just finished arriving.
Does the word nýbúinn change depending on who is doing the action?
Yes, nýbúinn acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender and number. Since sendillinn (the delivery person) is a masculine noun, we use the masculine singular form nýbúinn. If the subject were a feminine noun, it would change to nýbúin.
Why is biðstofuna in the accusative case instead of the dative?
The preposition í triggers the accusative case when it describes movement or direction into a place. Because the delivery person just arrived into the room, we use the accusative form biðstofuna. If they were already resting inside the room with no movement implied, it would take the dative form biðstofunni.
How is the word biðstofuna formed?
It is a compound noun made from bið (a wait or waiting) and stofa (a room, like a clinic room or parlor). The -na at the very end is the attached definite article for a feminine noun in the accusative case, making it "the waiting room".