Learn Icelandic: Ég er búinn að tæma ísskápinn.

In Icelandic, the construction vera búinn að (literally 'to be finished to') is heavily used to express that an action has just been completed. While Icelandic does have a 'have' + past participle structure, vera búinn að is much more common for everyday finished tasks. So ég er búinn að tæma translates naturally to 'I have emptied' or 'I am done emptying'.

Does the word búinn change depending on who is speaking?

Yes! In this construction, búinn acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject's gender. Because it is spelled búinn here, we know the speaker is male. A female speaker would say ég er búin (with one 'n'), and someone using a neutral pronoun would say ég er búið.

Why is the word for fridge ísskápinn here instead of the dictionary form ísskápurinn?

Ísskápinn is the direct object of the verb að tæma (to empty), which means it must be in the accusative case. The nominative (subject) form of 'the fridge' is ísskápurinn, but in the accusative, the masculine ending -ur drops out, leaving us with ísskápinn.

What makes up the compound word ísskápur?