Breakdown of Verkstjórinn er búinn að setja mig á dagvakt annan hvern mánuð.
vera
to be
mig
me (acc)
að
to (infinitive marker)
á
onto / on / in (static location) / on (a day of the week)
setja
to put
mánuðurinn
the month
búinn
finished
annar hver
every other (m) / önnur hver (f) / annað hvert (n)
verkstjórinn
the supervisor
dagvaktin
the day shift
Questions & Answers about Verkstjórinn er búinn að setja mig á dagvakt annan hvern mánuð.
Why is "every other month" translated as annan hvern mánuð in the accusative case?
In Icelandic, time expressions that describe how often something happens (frequency) take the accusative case. The base word for month is mánuður (a masculine noun), which becomes mánuð in the accusative. Both parts of the phrase "every other" must match this masculine accusative form, so annar becomes annan and hver becomes hvern.
I thought búinn að meant "finished doing" something. Why is it translated here as "has put"?
While vera búinn að literally means "to be finished [doing something]", it is the standard way to form the present perfect tense in Icelandic for actions that have been completed. Here, er búinn að setja simply means "has put" rather than emphasizing that the supervisor is "finished" putting you there.
Why does the preposition á take the accusative case (dagvakt) here?
The verb setja (to put or place) involves moving an object from one state or place to another. When prepositions like á (on) describe motion, direction, or a change of state, they take the accusative case. If you were just describing your static status of already being on the day shift, it would trigger the dative case instead.
What is the base form of Verkstjórinn?
The base word is verkstjóri, a masculine noun meaning supervisor or foreman. Because it is a weak masculine noun ending in the letter -i, the definite article "the" is formed by simply attaching -nn to the end, making it verkstjórinn.
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