Word
Nemendurnir eru búnir að senda greinina.
Meaning
The students have sent the article.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Nemendurnir eru búnir að senda greinina.
vera
to be
nemandinn
the student
að
to (infinitive marker)
búinn
finished
Questions & Answers about Nemendurnir eru búnir að senda greinina.
How does the vera búinn að construction give us "have sent" here?
Literally, this sentence translates to "The students are finished to send the article." In Icelandic, using vera (to be) plus búinn (finished) plus að and an infinitive verb (like senda) is the standard way to express that someone "has completed" or "has done" an action.
Why is it búnir instead of just búinn?
In this construction, the word búinn acts like an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender, number, and case. Because our subject, nemendurnir (the students), is masculine, plural, and nominative, búinn takes the masculine plural nominative form búnir.
What is the base form of nemendurnir?
The singular form is nemandi (a student). It is a masculine noun that changes its ending in the plural to become nemendur (students). The -nir at the very end is the attached definite article, giving us "the students".
Why is the word for "the article" spelled greinina here?
greinina is the direct object of the verb senda (to send), so it is in the accusative case. The base word is grein (a feminine noun). When you add the definite article in the accusative case, it becomes greinina (the article).