Breakdown of Starfsmaðurinn sem við vorum að bíða eftir er veikur.
vera
to be
veikur
sick
við
we
að
to (infinitive marker)
bíða
to wait
eftir
after / for (waiting for)
sem
who / which / that
starfsmaðurinn
the employee
Questions & Answers about Starfsmaðurinn sem við vorum að bíða eftir er veikur.
Why is eftir all the way at the end of the sem clause instead of before it?
In Icelandic relative clauses starting with sem (that/who), the preposition gets "stranded" at the end of the phrase. You cannot put a preposition directly before sem. Instead of saying "for whom we were waiting", Icelandic does exactly what English often does: "that we were waiting for" (sem við vorum að bíða eftir).
Doesn't eftir usually mean "after"? Why does it translate to "for" here?
By itself, eftir often translates to "after". However, the verb að bíða (to wait) specifically pairs with eftir when you are waiting for someone or something. Phrasal verbs like bíða eftir are fixed pairs, so it is best to memorize them together.
Could I just say sem við biðum eftir instead of sem við vorum að bíða eftir?
You could, but it changes the nuance slightly. Við biðum is the simple past ("we waited"), while við vorum að bíða is the past continuous ("we were waiting"). Using vera að plus the infinitive verb emphasizes that the waiting was an ongoing action, perfectly matching the English translation.
Why does the word for sick end in -ur (veikur)?
Adjectives in Icelandic change to match the noun they describe. Because starfsmaðurinn (the employee) is a masculine noun in the nominative (subject) case, the adjective describing him must also be masculine and nominative, which gives us the ending -ur.
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