Breakdown of Ég er búinn að gleypa pilluna.
vera
to be
ég
I
að
to (infinitive marker)
búinn
finished
gleypa
to swallow
pillan
the pill
Questions & Answers about Ég er búinn að gleypa pilluna.
Why does the sentence use er búinn að to mean "have swallowed"?
In Icelandic, the most common way to say you have just done or finished something is using the verb vera (to be) + búinn (finished) + að + the infinitive verb. Literally, ég er búinn að gleypa means "I am finished to swallow," which is how Icelanders express "I have swallowed."
Would a female speaker say this exactly the same way?
Not quite! The word búinn acts like an adjective describing the speaker, so it changes based on gender. A man says ég er búinn (with a double n), but a woman would say ég er búin (with a single n).
Why does the word for pill end in -una here?
The base word for "a pill" is pilla, which is a feminine noun. Because it is the direct object being swallowed, it takes the accusative case, becoming pillu. To say "the pill," we add the feminine accusative attached article -na, resulting in pilluna.
Since we are learning about time frequency, how would I use expressions like "twice a day" with this sentence?
Because this sentence uses er búinn að (have already done), it describes a completed action. You could say Ég er búinn að gleypa pilluna tvisvar í dag (I have swallowed the pill twice today). If you want to describe a regular habit, you drop the búinn að structure and use the present tense instead: Ég gleypi pilluna tvisvar á dag (I swallow the pill twice a day).
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