Breakdown of Við erum vön að elda um leið og við vöknum.
vera
to be
við
we
að
to (infinitive marker)
vakna
to wake up
elda
to cook
um leið og
as soon as
vanur
used to
Questions & Answers about Við erum vön að elda um leið og við vöknum.
Why does the adjective vanur change to vön in this sentence?
The word vanur acts as an adjective, so it must agree with the subject in gender and number. The subject pronoun við (we) is treated as a mixed-gender group by default, which requires the neuter plural form. The neuter plural of vanur is vön. If the group consisted entirely of men, it would be við erum vanir, and for only women, við erum vanar.
Does að vera vanur að mean "used to" as in a past habit that no longer happens?
In this sentence, it translates better to "being accustomed to" or "in the habit of." Because the verb vera (to be) is in the present tense (erum), it describes an ongoing, current habit: "we are used to cooking." To describe a habit you used to have in the past but don't anymore, you would either use the past tense (við vorum vön að) or just use the simple past tense of the main verb alongside an adverb like áður (before).
How exactly does the phrase um leið og mean "as soon as"?
Literally, um leið means "on the way" or "at the same time." When combined with og (and) to form a conjunction, the full phrase um leið og is the most common and idiomatic way in Icelandic to say "as soon as" or "the moment that" one action directly follows another.
Could I use vekjum instead of vöknum for "wake up" here?
No, because Icelandic has two different verbs for waking up that are easy to mix up. Að vakna (used here as vöknum) is intransitive, meaning you wake yourself up. The verb að vekja is transitive, meaning you are waking someone else up. Since the sentence is about waking up naturally on your own, vakna is the correct choice.
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