Fornleifafræðingurinn er búinn að uppgötva stórt bein.
The archaeologist has discovered a large bone.
Breakdown of Fornleifafræðingurinn er búinn að uppgötva stórt bein.
vera
to be
stór
big
að
to (infinitive marker)
búinn
finished
fornleifafræðingurinn
the archaeologist
uppgötva
to discover
beinið
the bone
Questions & Answers about Fornleifafræðingurinn er búinn að uppgötva stórt bein.
Why do we use er búinn að here instead of a regular past tense verb?
The phrase vera búinn að followed by a verb in its basic form is the most common Icelandic way to say someone 'has done' something. It literally translates to 'is finished to', so er búinn að uppgötva means 'has discovered' rather than just 'discovered'.
Since the current lesson is about fyrir ... síðan (ago), could I add that phrase to this sentence?
Generally, no. Just like in English, you wouldn't say 'The archaeologist has discovered a bone two days ago.' If you want to state exactly when it happened using fyrir and síðan, you should drop the er búinn að structure and use the simple past tense instead: uppgötvaði.
Does the word búinn change depending on who is doing the discovering?
Yes! The word búinn acts like an adjective describing the subject. Because fornleifafræðingurinn is a masculine noun, we use the masculine form búinn. If the subject were a feminine noun, you would use búin, and if it were neuter, you would use búið.
Why is it stórt instead of just stór?
The word bein (bone) is a neuter noun. Because adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe, the basic masculine word stór (large) must take its neuter form, which is stórt.
How do you make sense of a massive word like Fornleifafræðingurinn?
Icelandic loves creating new vocabulary by gluing smaller words together. This breaks down into forn (ancient), leifar (remains), fræði (study/science), and the suffix -ingur (a person who does this). The final -inn is the attached definite article meaning 'the'.
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